


We Will Find Our Way

by amomentoflove



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Little Mix (Band), One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Fluff, M/M, Magic, Marauders' Era, Quidditch, Some angst, takes place in 1974 before voldemort takes over
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-04-12
Packaged: 2018-10-17 23:38:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 23,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10604697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amomentoflove/pseuds/amomentoflove
Summary: “Yeah, well you see I was just… erm. I’m sleep walking!”“Sleepwalking?”“Yep,” Harry nods his head. “Definitely sleep walking right now.”Louis' lips turn up in amusement. “You’re really talkative for a sleep walker. Do you usually wear shoes to bed?” He points down at Harry’s bedroom shoes in the shape of a badger and Harry shuffles his feet.“Yeah, I know that I’m going to sleepwalk so I wear shoes to bed so I don’t stub my toe and hurt it,” Harry explains hardly believing that Louis is actually humoring his very obvious lie.Louis maintains a stern expression for only a minute before he bursts out laughing.“You do talk some shit, don’t you?”Or the one where Harry is a Hufflepuff, Louis is a Slytherin and they take midnight walks together.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [toritastic11](https://archiveofourown.org/users/toritastic11/gifts).



> Hi, everyone! This was my first ever fic exchange and this fic was by far the longest piece of work I've ever written so far. I had so much fun writing this and I can't wait for you all to read it! I tried to remain true to both the harry potter universe (ie. the dates for Voldemort's attacks, the timeline for Lily Evans and the Marauders, which professors were at Hogwarts, etc.) I got most of my information related to Harry Potter from harrypotter wiki pages and pottermore. Please remember that I'm not J.K. Rowling and she owns all the rights to some of the characters mentioned in the fic as well as all the magicalness that goes along with them.
> 
> I do have Dan, Doris, and Ernie in the story even though Louis is only 18 years old, because I can't resist writing Louis talking about his younger siblings. 
> 
> This is the prompt I was given. I hope I did it well! _Basically, we both keep accidentally meeting on a midnight stroll when we can’t sleep, hey maybe we should walk together, safety in numbers and all that especially with harry being muggleborn (marauders era and the impending war is what I was thinking tbh)_
> 
> [Moonblessd](http://www.moonblessd.tumblr.com) was my beta for this fic! Thank you so much for being patient with me since I took forever to write this and for pointing out my silly mistakes!
> 
> The title comes from One Direction's Through the Dark because why not.
> 
> Enjoy! [tumblr](http://www.daggerandrose.tumblr.com)

Harry Styles is about to go absolutely crazy. Edgar Williams, the most annoying kid in his year, will not stop snoring and not even a Silencio spell will help the situation. Harry closes his eyes, relaxes his body, and tries his best to go to sleep. He gets about five or six seconds before Edgar releases an almighty snore that causes Harry’s eyes to pop open in a mixture of shock and frustration that one tiny person, and he means tiny, could be physically possible of such a noise.

“That’s it,” Harry mutters as he pulls the covers off of his body. He peeks out from behind his bed curtains to see his fellow Hufflepuffs sleeping soundly. Maybe they had a better tolerance for the snoring than Harry did. Harry grabs his wand from his bedside table, slips on his bedroom shoes, and heads out of the boy’s dormitory. The fire is still crackling, warming the room, giving Harry the idea to go down to the kitchens. Maybe the House Elves can make him a cup of tea to help him fall into a deep sleep. Deep enough so he can’t hear the roaring snores of his housemate.

Thankfully, the Hufflepuff common room is only a short walk to the entrance of the kitchens—as Harry discovered during his third week as a First Year. Although, his best friend, Niall Horan, really figured out how to get into the kitchens. Only Niall would think about tickling a painting of a pear. It’s no wonder Niall was sorted into Ravenclaw. The two met while Harry was trying to coax his highly annoyed cat, Dusty, out of the cat carrier and into his lap for the long train ride to Hogwarts. He was only successful when Niall walked in the compartment. Apparently, his cat, the one he’s had since he was seven, loved the blonde Irishman more. 

Now, Harry and Niall are Sixth Years and Harry usually doesn’t go to the kitchens by himself or at night. Sometimes Hogwarts creeps him out at night. Especially since tensions between Pure-bloods and Muggle-borns—like Harry himself-- are quickly rising into something dangerous. 

There have been numerous articles in _The Daily Prophet_ , even in the Muggle newspaper his mum sends to him, about disappearances and deaths all across the United Kingdom. There's been talk that it was Grindelwald escaping prison and coming back for revenge. Other just say that those disappearing weren’t going to be missed. Those kinds of people were usually snooty Pure-bloods. Harry didn’t particularly care for those types of witches and wizards. Thankfully, the only sort of hatred he received because he was a Muggle-born was from some of the Slytherins. No surprise there to be honest.

As soon as he crawls out of the entrance to the Hufflepuff Common Room, his foots catches on the edge of one of the barrels that hides the entrance and he stumbles into something solid and who Harry hopes is not a Prefect, Head Girl/Head Boy, or a professor.

“Oops,” Harry mutters out as he steadies himself.

“Hi!” A male voice whispers out and Harry looks up to see Louis Tomlinson-- Seventh Year Slytherin, one of Slughorn’s favorites, and the one Harry’s eyes always slips to during meals. It started during the Welcoming Feast when he was looking over at his newest classmates and feeling overwhelmed by everything that was happening to him. It was such a surreal moment for Harry, someone who believed magic was just for books and movies, was real and he was a part of it all. An older student, he can’t even remember the name of him now, was telling him to watch out for the Slytherins when he saw him. Louis Tomlinson in all his glory. 

Louis was joking with his friends and making his goblet levitate a few inches above the table. Harry remembers being in awe over the older boy’s cheekbones and from two tables away, he could see how bright Louis’ eyes were. The next meal, Harry’s eyes sought him out and it had been a tradition, probably a creepy one, to look for Louis at least once during the meals. 

Thankfully, the Slytherin table is partially blocked by the Gryffindor table so Harry’s confident that Louis has never seen him before until Harry’s clumsy self ruined that for him. Louis may be good-looking—incredibly good looking, downright gorgeous in Harry’s eyes—but Louis is in Slytherin.

Harry then realizes that he’s been staring Louis straight in his gorgeous blue eyes and oh no, Harry is absolutely fucked. He must seem like such a creep. He is most definitely about to get jinxed by Louis. Like Tommy Waldorf, Seventh Year Slytherin, jinxed a poor First Year Gryffindor by turning the eleven-year old’s books into jumping frogs. It had taken three professors and the Head Boy to round up all the frogs and transfigure them back into their original state.

“Um, what are you doing here?” Harry asks as he straightens up and brushes off invisible lint from his pajamas. He mentally winces at the question. It’s like he’s taken a De-Aging potion and he’s now eleven years old again!

Louis raises an eyebrow. “I could ask you the same thing, Curly. Did you know that it’s well past curfew?”

Harry gulps and tries to remember ever seeing a Prefect pendant on the older boys robes in the past month since the school year started. “Yeah, well you see I was just… erm. I’m sleep walking!”

“Sleepwalking?”

“Yep,” Harry nods his head. “Definitely sleep walking right now.”

Louis' lips turn up in amusement. “You’re really talkative for a sleep walker. Do you usually wear shoes to bed?” He points down at Harry’s bedroom shoes in the shape of a badger and Harry shuffles his feet.

“Yeah, I know that I’m going to sleepwalk so I wear shoes to bed so I don’t stub my toe and hurt it,” Harry explains hardly believing that Louis is actually humoring his very obvious lie.

Louis maintains a stern expression for only a minute before he bursts out laughing. “You do talk some shit, don’t you?”

Harry blushes and reaches up to fuss with his hair. “Just a bit. You’re not going to turn me in to Sprout or Slughorn?” 

“Course not. I’m just headed to the kitchens. Sneaked out meself.”

“Oh,” Harry relaxes only slightly. He is still standing in his pajamas in front of the boy he has a crush on the size of the Forbidden Forest. “Well, I’m going to the kitchens too. What a coincidence!”

Louis’ smirk turned into a smile. “Lucky me.” 

The two boys make their way down the corridor until they stop at a painting of a bright green pear, almost the size of the wall itself. Louis reaches up and tickles the right side of the pear which turns into a handle. Honestly, Harry really loves magic and Hogwarts has an abundance of it within its walls.

Warmth, even at this time of night, spills through the doorway and causes a shiver to run up Harry’s spine. He didn’t even realize he was cold. Harry is quite fond of the kitchens. It sits directly underneath the Great Hall. Five tables set up exactly like the tables above. A wall of fireplaces lies to the left with stoves and cabinets for storage to the right. During the day, there’s possible thirty or fifty House Elves milling about, making food, and tending to the fires. At night, particularly this late at night, there’s only one House Elves while the others are mending the fires in the House’s common rooms or are asleep in their own sleeping quarters. Louis confidently leads the way into the kitchens and over to the one House Elf who mends the fire.

“Mister Louis!” The House Elf exclaims, seeing the two wizards walk in and getting up from her perch by the fire. “What brings Mister Louis heres at night? Need mores tea?”

Harry stands bewildered. Louis knows this House Elf?

Louis smiles brightly down at the House Elf, fondness spreading over his face and makes Harry’s heart stutter in his chest. “Yeah, seems to be another late night ahead of me, Ustrina. Did you get anymore Yorkshire tea?”

Ustrina bounds over to one of the cabinets that line the walls with an enthusiastic pep. “Yes! Yes! It came yesterday!” 

“Brilliant,” Louis’ face lights up and he goes over to one of the tables to sit. He turns around to where Harry still stands in shock by the fire. “C’mon Curly. Ustrina makes the best cuppa.”

Harry manages to move his feet and goes over to sit beside the boy. They both watch as Ustrina waves her hand and two mugs float over from the shelves. In no time, the House Elf is walking over with a tray and placing it in front of them. 

“Here yous go Mister Louis!” She announces happily. 

“Thank you, love,” Louis smiles and picks up a mug.

Ustrina bows and goes back over to the fire. Harry picks up the remaining mug and takes a whiff of the tea. Chamomile and a hint of lemon fills his nostrils and he sighs as he releases his breath. So Ustrina didn’t give him Yorkshire tea. Hmm. He hesitantly takes a sip as to not burn his tongue but finds that it’s the perfect temperature. 

“I didn’t realize that the tea was that good,” Louis says drawing Harry out of his tea induced mindset.

“What?”

Louis chuckles. “Mate, you just let out the most pornographic moan I’ve ever heard.” He reaches over and takes a shortbread biscuit Harry just now realizes are also on the tray. “I wonder what you would sound like in bed.”

And.

What?

Is Louis flirting with him? 

Harry blushes and sets his tea down in exchange of taking a biscuit.

“So, Curly.” Louis shifts in his seat to face him. “Other than being in Hufflepuff and that lemon chamomile tea gets you off, what else is there to know about you?” Louis asks and Harry can’t answer for at least a minute because he’s distracted by Louis sticking his tongue out to catch a biscuit crumb. He should probably go see Madam Pomfrey for his staring problem. It’s getting out of hand.

“Erm,” Harry clears his throat. “Well, I’m a Sixth Year and I want to be a Healer when I graduate.”

“Me Mum is a Healer at St. Mungo’s actually. She’s in the maternity ward.”

“She gets to work with babies?” Harry perks up with the idea of having a job where you get to be surrounded by magical children every day. It’s exactly what he wants to do.

“Yeah, one time this newborn baby’s magic went crazy and sparked a fire in the delivery room. Mum had to put the fire out and make sure the kid didn’t cause anymore.”

“That kind of stuff happens?”

“All the time. Mum says that I almost turned my room into a swimming pool because I wanted to go swimming so badly and it was storming outside. Almost flooded our house because of that. I was like five when that happened. I barely remember it but I bet it was totally awesome.”

Harry can’t help but think of a small, adorable, five-year-old Louis turning his room into a personal swimming pool. His heart flutters more.

“Any wild stories like that to share?” Louis asks, looking expectantly at him.

Harry almost chokes on his tea. “Erm,” He sets the cup down and starts to fiddle with the hem of his pajama top. “Not really. I’m actually, erm, Muggle-born. I didn’t really know I had magic or magic was something real until my eleventh birthday when Professor McGonagall came to visit my family’s vacation home.”

Louis studies him for a second too long for Harry’s liking. “That must of been bloody terrifying. How did you take it?”

Harry blinks and pauses. “Erm, well, I was actually at the house by myself. My Mum, Step-Dad, and Gemma—my older sister, were at the store getting food, they had forgotten to get a cake. So I was outside in the pool, erm, naked when McGonagall Apparated.”

“Naked?”

“As the day I was born,” Harry blushes at the memory of floating in the pool, relishing the fact that the pool was heated since it was a chilly February day when he heard someone clear their throat. Stood at the end of the pool was none other than Minerva McGonagall with the most unimpressed look on her face. Harry still blushes every time he goes to Transfiguration class. But, thankfully, the professor has never mentioned the incident.

Louis bursts out laughing and hunches over clutching his stomach. “You. Were. Naked!” He manages out in-between his giggles. “That’s probably the best thing I’ve heard all week.”

Harry giggles along with him, his shoulders releasing tension and he reaches over for another biscuit. 

“So,” Louis says after a few moments of relative silence and his expression turns serious. “How are you feeling about the things that have happened?”

Louis doesn’t have to elaborate for Harry to know exactly what he’s talking about. _The Daily Prophet_ that day brushed off the uprisings of a clan of werewolves as “non-threatening” and that it would be “taken care of swiftly”. Whatever that means. What _The Daily Prophet_ failed to mention, what the Muggle newspaper did, was that the werewolves attacked a Muggle family that lived five minutes from a major city. 

Harry clears his throat and takes another sip of his tea rather than answering.

Louis picks up on Harry’s uncomfortableness and continues. “I only ask because I’m a Pure-blood and even I’m afraid for everyone. My family’s been called blood traitors before since we don’t treat our House Elves or anyone who isn’t a Pure-blood like shit.” He takes a sip of tea. “I have this terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that this, these attacks are for something dark and are only the beginning. I’m afraid what that means. Especially for innocent people. Whether they have magic or not.”

Harry looks at him fondly but his expression winged with sadness. “You sound like an Auror.”

Louis chuckles tensely. “Yeah, that’s what I want to be. I can’t stand that there are witches and wizards out there that think that they are better than others because they’re Pure-bloods or that they have magic. They’re only acting like bullies. As a big brother in a family of seven, I’m quite protective over the people that I care about.”

“Seven?”

“Yeah, five sisters and a little brother,” Louis says proudly and Harry is so so endeared. Louis glances down at his now empty mug and his expression falls. “Erm, well I guess I better get back to my House. I still have a few more inches left for my Potions assignment.”

“Oh,” Harry says and slumps down in his seat. 

Louis gets up and turns towards Ustrina. “Thank you for the tea and biscuits, Ustrina.”

The House Elf bounds over to the table and takes the tray. “Yous most welcome, Mister Louis and Mister Harry.”

Harry blinks, not remembering if he told the House Elf his name. Louis sees his confusion and chuckles, nudging Harry towards the entrance to the kitchen. “House Elves. They know everything.”

Harry’s cheeks warm and he follows Louis out. The quick walk to the barrels was well…quick. Harry lingers near the barrels and Louis looks back when he realizes that Harry isn’t beside him anymore.

“What are you waiting for Curly?” 

“Oh, my common room is here.”

Louis raises an eyebrow and looks around. The only thing in the corridor other than the two of them and the stack of barrels are suits of armor that are slumped over in sleep. “Here?”

“Here,” Harry confirms.

Louis looks back at him. “Well, I guess I’ll see you around?”

Harry smiles and mentally rejoices that he doesn’t blush. “Yeah, g’night Louis.”

“Night Harry,” Louis replies and walks down the corridor. 

When he gets far enough away, Harry goes over to the barrels and taps out the correct wording for the largest barrel to open up, allowing Harry to go into the common room. The fire is still crackling when he walks in and as he walks up the staircase to his dormitory, he can still hear Edgar snoring.

Harry is only slightly bothered by it when he crawls back in bed, closes the bed curtains, and goes to sleep.

 

 

Harry wakes up that next morning, still tired, but wide awake nonetheless. He can hear the other boys moving around the dormitory and Edgar who’s whistling along to ‘Hogwarts Hogwarts Hoggy Hoggy Hogwarts, teach us something please.’ None of the other boys seem to be bothered by it. Harry pulls back the burgundy and gold speckled bed curtains and rolls out of bed. He reaches his hands above his head and stretches, even raising up on his toes to stretch his legs. He releases his breath and leans over to rub at Dusty’s head who’s still sleeping on the bed, curled up on the pillow. 

“Hurry up, Haz!” Dennis calls out as he ties his black and gold Hufflepuff tie. “Breakfast will be over soon.”

“You say that every morning,” Edgar points out and rolls his eyes. “Breakfast doesn’t end until nine.”

“Yeah,” Dennis pulls out his knapsack and packs away the books his needs. “But it’s eight. Harry is the slowest eater ever. He needs a good hour to finish a meal.”

The room of boys laughs and Jack comments “Which includes staring Tommo down!” which only makes the laughter grow.

Harry’s cheeks flush as he walks towards the connected bathroom with his school robes. “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ll meet you down there.”

He splashes water on his face and brushes his teeth. He uses his wand to help tame his long hair into something that looks less like a bird’s nest and more like hair. He mentally notes that he needs to thank Perrie for teaching him the charm. Ten minutes later, Harry has packed his own knapsack, given Dusty food in her bowl and a scratch under the chin, and was walking into the Great Hall. Only thirty minutes left for breakfast. He sees Perrie’s platinum hair ad Harry goes over to sit by her.

“G’morning Pez,” Harry greets as he sits down.

“Look who finally got up,” Perrie teases and Harry rolls his eyes and starts to pile food on his plate. 

“Did you finish your History of Magic homework?” He asks taking a sip of pumpkin juice.

Perrie and the other Hufflepuffs around them groan simultaneously. “Just barely,” Perrie replies. “I started writing bigger towards the end.”

“I went to the library to find the longest words possible to stick in,” Harry adds. 

“Did it make sense?” Jade, another girl from Harry’s year and one of Perrie’ best friends, asks from across the table.

Harry chuckles and shakes his head. “Of course not. It’s not like Bins will notice. I could give him a detailed and explicit love letter and he would barely blink as long as I mentioned the Goblin Wars somewhere.”

Jade scrunches up her face. “Why would you suggest such a thing? Can you even imagine?”

Beside him, Perrie shudders. “I worry about your mind sometimes, Haz.”

“Your day would be so boring and ordinary without me.”

Perrie scoffs. “Not by much. Those Gryffindors keep my life interesting enough.”

“They keep the entire school interesting,” Jade points out. But she was right. Those Gryffindors were James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. They were Fourth Years and the biggest pranksters Harry has ever seen. And he’s seen Louis cause bubbles to come down from the ceiling in the Great Hall for an entire week. He still thinks that Professor Dumbledore, Hogwarts’ Headmaster, kept the bubbles around because he liked the aesthetics of eating in a flurry of bubbles that wouldn’t pop until they reached the stone floor.

It was the beginning of October, _those Gryffindors_ had already been to Dumbledore’s office seven times and have been threatened to be expelled by McGonagall at least three different times. But those were just rumors Harry has heard.

“Have you heard that the Potter kid is trying to get with Lily Evans?” Harry asks his two friends. 

Perrie snorts into her juice. “Yeah, and she told him to go swim with the giant squid,” Jade and Perrie burst into giggles.

Harry shakes his head and tuts. “Poor kid. He tried so hard.” He takes the last bite of his toast when Jade bursts out laughing startling Harry.

“What?” He questions when he notices that Jade was laughing at him. 

“Talking about trying hard?” Jade says.

“With a certain Slytherin,” Perrie adds flat out smirking at Harry.

Harry looks down and feels his cheeks heat up. “Shut up.” They were not ignorant when it came to Harry’s huge crush on Louis. They had been subjected to hours and hours of Harry talking about how blue Louis’ eyes were or the curve of his body. 

A loud Irish voice calls out from behind Harry. He turns, knowing exactly who the voice belongs to and grins at his favorite Irishman. “You ready for McGonagall’s class?”

“Just barely.” 

“Wanna head on?” Niall asks jerking his head towards the doors. 

Harry nods and drains the last few sips of his juice and grabs a banana before following Niall out of the Great Hall. “See you in class.” He calls out to Perrie and Jade. Perrie flips him off and goes back to her conversation with Jade. As the two Sixth Years join the various groups of students headed to class, Harry feels eyes following him. He shivers as he passes by the suits of armor. 

Right when a large group passes the middle point of the corridor, the suits of armor suddenly move and tip their helmets. As soon as they do, multicolored confetti comes streaming down. Hollers and yells of delight and confusion ring up and Harry looks around for the one who could have cast the charm. Then, all of the confetti float into the air to spell out the words “ _Will you go out with me, Lily Evans: The Most Colorful Girl in the World?_ ”

“Potter!” A feminine voice calls out as the confetti transforms into butterflies to float above a particular red-headed girl.

“Geez,” Niall winces. “That Potter kid is bound and determined.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Harry comments as they step around the fiasco and head to McGonagall’s classroom. They didn’t want to be late.

“Sweet? Would you want your Slytherin crush to spell out innuendos with confetti in front of half of Hufflepuff House?”

“Well,” Harry starts. “Not innuendos per say.” 

Niall knocks their shoulders together. “You’re such a romantic Haz I swear.”

“I can’t help it.”

They walk into the classroom and take their regular seats in front of a cage of bluebirds. “Yeah, I know you can’t you big softy.”

More Sixth Year Hufflepuff and Ravenclaws file into the room and a low hum rises into loud chatter. Harry takes out his Transfiguration book and puts it on the wooden table. Although the tables have probably been in the castle since the school first opened almost 1000 years ago, the wood still shines and doesn’t have any splintering or cracks. Harry runs his hand across the wood, feeling its smoothness. He can’t help but think about Louis. Would he want to meet up again? Or was last night it? He hopes not. How could they talk so deeply to one another and nothing happen again? He was nothing like Harry thought he would be but yet exactly like he thought. Incredibly kind and honest and so so soft yet sharp. He was an enigma and Harry wants to learn more about him. 

The room quiets when Professor McGonagall walks in with bright yellow confetti dancing around her head.

“Good morning, everyone. Please take your seats,” She says and waving her wand to disintegrate the confetti with a “Bloody kids in love” under her breath.

Niall snickers beside him. 

“Today we will be reviewing animal transfiguration before moving on to self-transfiguration.”

Perrie raises her hand.

“Yes, Miss. Edwards, you will be exempt from the self-transfiguration.”

Perrie grins and Harry rolls his eyes. Perrie is half Metamorphmagus and is able to change her physical appearance in a blink of an eye. Genetics huh? Now, Perrie was rocking bright purple hair down in braids.

With a wave of her wand, Professor McGonagall opens the blue bird cage and places one in front of each student with a pile of seed to keep the bird there.

“Now,” McGonagall says as she retrieves her own blue bird. “Who can tell me how to turn this bird into a yellow bird?” She sets her gaze on all the students. Some shift around in their chair under the pressure. Niall raises his hand and answers when McGonagall turns her gaze to him.

“The correct charm is _Colovaria_.”

McGonagall nods and follows Niall’s instructions. The next second, the blue bird is now yellow without a pain to him.

“Very good Mr. Horan. Five points to Ravenclaw.”

Harry can see Niall do a fist pump under the desk. 

“Now you’re going to do the same. Go through the colors of the rainbow. Once you’ve turned your bird back to blue, place it back in the cage and move on to transfiguring yourself with some sort of bird feature. I recommend trying feathers instead of a beak until you’ve gotten the feathers down. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to go to the infirmary. I’ve heard the potion to reverse the transfiguration is horrid,” Then she gives a pointed look to Niall which makes Harry chuckle under his breath. Niall jabs him in the side with his elbow. “Begin.”

Everyone picks up their wands and practices the spells.Harry manages to turn the bird into a bright pink color and proceeds to think of different colored patterns to turn the bird. The only problem he has is that the color only changes on the wings and not the entire body.

“What am I doing wrong?” He leans over to Niall whose bird has been transfigured into the colors of Ireland’s national flag. Typical. 

“Are you thinking of one color?” Niall asks, seeing Harry’s bird now with a blue body and green wings.

“Yeah, I was trying to turn it green.” Harry answers and then he realizes that he was thinking of green like his eyes which led him to think the blue in Louis’ eyes that he stared into last night. He wishes that the older boy would somehow find him and whisk him away to the Astronomy Tower. But that’s talk of an eleven-year old with a crush. Harry’s sixteen now. He can’t sit around and wait for Louis to do something.

“Well, try again but make sure you’re thinking of green and not blue. Even if you think of blue for a second the spell won’t work properly,” Niall offers and Harry meekly nods. He hopes Niall doesn’t realize what Harry did. 

“ _Colovaria_.” Now, the bird is a solid green color without a sight of blue and Niall claps Harry on the back.

“Good job, mate.”

Harry waves his wand and turns the bird back into the correct shade of blue and holds his hand out for the bird to hop in. When the bird doesn’t he takes some seed that’s still on the table and sprinkles it on his hand. The bird hops up and Harry cups his hand over the bird so it doesn’t fly away when he gets up. He goes over to the cage and rubs the top of the bird’s head before he opens his hand and the bird flies out.

Most of the other students are still trying to change their birds a different color so Harry feels proud of himself for being able to be ahead of the class at something especially when it comes to Transfiguration. Herbology was more of his thing. But in order to be a Healer he has to have at least an Exceeds Expectations in his N.E.W.T.S. in Herbology, Potions, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. He’s thankful that Niall is his best friend and can help him study. 

Across the room, Harry sees Perrie helping those who are trying to self-transfigure and oh yeah, that’s what Harry’s is meant to be doing now.

Harry takes a deep breath, imagines bright blue feathers framing his face and mutters the spell. He feels pinpricks cover his face and the next second he runs his cheek to see if it’s worked. 

“Shit,” Harry mutters and tries again but it doesn’t work. He still feels a prickling sensation but he can never feel or even see feathers around his face. When he turns to Niall, he has a face full of blue feathers and a beak where a mouth should be.

“Show off,” Harry responds and Niall’s chuckles come out as twinkling chirps. “Now turn back.” Harry smugly tells the Irishman.

Niall flicks his wand towards himself and then pale skin comes into view and his human mouth takes the beak’s place. “Harry, you should know that I’m the King of Transfiguration.”

They chuckle but Harry’s eyes widen when he see Professor McGonagall standing directly behind Niall. He stops laughing but Niall doesn’t seem to sense the danger. Harry coughs and looks at McGonagall hoping that Niall will get the hint to cut it out. 

“I certainly hope that today’s class wasn’t insulting to your talent, Mr. Horan,” McGonagall states startling the Irishman who turns around red-faced.

“Of course not, Professor. Never,” Niall audibly gulps. “I was just saying that I was the King of Transfiguration compared to Harry, not you or anyone other than Harry.”

“I see,” McGonagall nods and with an unimpressed look turns around to face the rest of the class. “If you haven’t finished turning you bird back to blue, please place them in this,” she swishes her wand and a medium sized iron cage appears on her desk. “And look over Chapter Five in the text. We will continue this and more advanced self-transfigurations on Friday.”

McGonagall must have an internal clock that tells her exactly when the bell will ring because as soon as she stops giving out homework, the bell rings. Everyone gathers their things and Harry sees a few students place their birds into the cage on McGonagall’s desk looking dejected. Harry understands exactly how they feel. 

Potions was next with Professor Slughorn. The only professor who teaches in a dark and damp room and still manages to have an overly enthusiastic outlook on the day. Slughorn also gave him the creeps sometimes. No one can be that enthusiastic about everything. Nonetheless, Harry walks down to the dungeons with Niall, Jade, and Perrie around him. It’s not until they reach Slughorn’s classroom that he remembers that the Seventh Year Gryffindor and Slytherins have Potions before he does. Meaning that there is a possibility that Louis Tomlinson is still in the classroom since Slughorn has a terrible habit of keeping students past the release bell.

Sure enough, groups of Gryffindor and Slytherins are coming out of the classroom. Harry looks around trying to find Louis because he apparently is unable to help himself. He spots him surrounded by his fellow Slytherins and it feels very much like a stereotypical romantic comedy moment. Louis moving in slow-motion, at the front of the small group and his face bright with laughter. For just a second, Louis glances over at Harry, his eyes softens, and he winks.

Then Louis turns around and walks away leaving Harry frozen in his spot. 

“Careful, Niall,” Harry vaguely hears Perrie to his left. “I think your potions partner has been petrified.”

Niall giggles. “Yeah, by a particularly nasty snake called the Tommo.”

“Known to strike love and lust into the hearts of its victims,” Jade adds on.

Harry rolls his eyes and shoves Niall. “Hardy-har-har.” He follows the rest of his class into the room. “I can’t help that he’s so attractive. And he winked at me! Winked!”

“You’re so gone for him, Harry. It’s adorable to watch,” Perrie says patting his arm as she passes him to go to the front of the class with Jade in tow.

Harry plops down at his and Niall’s regular table by the door furthest away from the front of the room. Humidity from the bubbling potions and curly hair do not mix. 

Niall relaxes back in the seat, stretches his arms out and groans. “Haz, I’m ready for this day to be done with.”

“Why’s that?”

“I just remembered that I have Quidditch practice tonight,” Niall happens to be a Chaser for Ravenclaw’s team and Team Captain. Just like a certain Slytherin. Harry tried out for his House’s Quidditch team during his Third Year and failed miserably. He squealed every time a Bludger came towards him and he could never find the Snitch. Keeper was definitely out of the question for him because he didn’t have the best reaction time to be able to guard all three hoops. He was best in the stands supporting his friends. 

Niall, on the other hand, was a brilliant Chaser. Harry went with him to his tryouts a few days before Harry’s tryout, and he was in awe at how fast Niall was. Put Niall in front of a pretty girl or boy he liked and he was a stuttering mess. But give Niall a Quaffle and a broomstick and he was pure magic. 

Harry chuckles and pats Niall on the shoulder. “At least you won’t be stuck in the library studying for McGonagall’s class.”

Niall winces and sits up again. “The new librarian has ruined the library for me.”

“Pince?”

“Pince.” 

Harry nods understandingly. Madame Pince is a tall, thin woman who is new to Hogwarts. The two wizards learned that she treated every single book as if it was a newborn child. She enforced strict rules which included not being able to bring food of any sort in the vicinity of the books. During the first week of school, Niall had brought a sub sandwich into the library—like usual— and accidentally dripped some of the sauce on a page. Madame Pince had somehow realized what happened despite being at least five bookshelves away and not within sight and banned Niall from the library with her piercing voice.

“Good luck with that mate.”

“Good luck dealing with eager Third Year girls trying to flirt with you,” He replies with a smug smile.

“Ugh,” Niall drops his head on the desk. “Don’t remind me. They’re vultures.”

“They can’t be that bad,” Harry offers whispering now that Slughorn has walked in and class was beginning to start.

Niall scoffs. “‘ _That bad_.’ They’re terrifying, Haz! I swear one of them tried to slip a Love Potion in my butterbeer last year.”

Harry chuckles at the memory of Niall grimacing at the taste of his fourth butterbeer and going up to the bar to demand a new one. Turns out that one of the Third Year girls did actually slip a Love Potion in Niall’s drink but since she brewed it herself and it’s more a Sixth Year potion, it only deterred Niall from her even more.

“I’m interested to see what they’ll try to do this year,” Harry grins and opens his potions book to the correct page Slughorn has written on the board.

“I hate you.”

Just before Harry can respond saying that _no, no you don’t. You love me, Niall_ , Slughorn clears his throat and calls the class to attention. 

“Today we’ll be brewing a Draught of Peace. Now, who can tell me the difference between a Draught of Peace and a Calming Draught?” He looks around the room expectedly and several students avoid eye contact; even Niall is twiddling his fingers and Harry smiles widely because he knows this. He raises his hand and Slughorn perks up and nods towards Harry. “A Draught of Peace is for relieving anxiety and can put those who take it to sleep while a Calming Draught is mainly used by Healers for victims of emotional trauma.”

Slughorn points to Harry proudly. “Bravo, Mr. Styles. Bravo! Ten points to Hufflepuff!”

Harry smugly smiles at Niall who rolls his eyes. 

“Since this is Double Potions,” Slughorn continues. “We will have plenty of time for brewing this most difficult potion. I should warn you to take caution while working on this particular brew. It has been known to catch on fire if not taken care of properly. For that reason, if you see green sparks or see dark grey steam, stop what you are doing immediately and put the lid on your cauldron.”

No one makes a sound and Harry looks nervously at Niall who’s biting his lower lip, a sure sign that he doesn’t feel all that confident at the moment. Perfect.

“But there should be nothing to worry about. You’re all O.W.L. students!” The potions professor tries to encourage but it only makes Harry feel worse. If a Healer can’t brew a proper Draught of Peace, then they shouldn’t be a Healer! “Now, start brewing!”

Students hurry to the pantry to gather the appropriate ingredients. Niall always gets everything for him and Harry while Harry lights the fire under each of their cauldrons. Since they’re O.W.L. potion students, they work alone rather than in partners like they did before they took the Ordinary Wizarding Level’s. But they still do what they can to help the other out.

Niall and Harry separate the ingredients into piles in between their cauldrons and get to work. Crush the moonstone into powder and wait until the simmering water turns clover green. Stir counter clockwise until it turns blue. Blue like Louis’ eyes in the firelight. Harry has to blink and refocus so he doesn’t mess up the potion. More powdered moonstone, then syrup of hellebore which smells something awful. More stirring. Harry feels as if his hand is going to fall off with how often he has to stir or crush an ingredient into powder. 

The potion must change into every color of the rainbow until it finally turns a deep purple and now Harry finally gets to add powdered unicorn horn, let it simmer and wait until the potion turns pink. 

At this point, Harry looks up and sees at least five students potions sparking or a dingy red color. Slughorn has to go over to those students and vanish the potion and tell them to start again. Harry hopes he won’t become one of them. There’s about forty minutes left of the lesson and five steps left. 

His potion is only a very pale red color so he turns to Niall to see how his friend is doing. The Ravenclaw’s eyebrows are pinched together in concentration and a bead of sweat is rolling down the side of his face. 

“You alright, Nialler?” Harry whispers, not wanting to scare the boy.

Niall scoffs and adds porcupine quills to the potion and stirs the liquid. “Not too bad. I just wish this thing would hurry up and turn white. You would think that they would create a spell that would stir potions so I don’t have to break my fucking wrist.”

Harry chuckles. “You should get on that.”

“Maybe I will.”

“You know,” Slughorn says from directly behind them causing Niall to jump and Harry to grip his wand. “I once had a student who charmed their ladle to stir for him and he ended up catching every single one of his potions on fire because it stirred too harshly. Potions are like people my dear boys! It’s better to have a personal touch. Spells can’t fix everything.”

Harry nods jerkily. “Excellent advice, Professor.”

Niall echoes Harry’s statement and continues to stir 

“Alright, back to your brewing!” Slughorn jovially exclaims and walks over to where Perrie is tugging at her hair which is now a deep red as her potion starts to spark bright yellow. When Harry looks down at his own, he notices that it’s finally a vibrant orange and he adds in the rest of the powdered unicorn horn and stirs. 

He lets the mixture stew and while he waits, he looks over the instructions to make sure that he’s done everything correctly. He doesn’t have any porcupine quills left in his pile and maybe a pinch or two of powdered moonstone. He glances up when milk white fog floats down on his book and his heart jumps when he sees whips of white fog floats off the equally white potion.

“Merlin’s beard,” Harry mutters under his breath. Then he jumps out of his seat and raises his hand to get Slughorn’s attention. “Professor!” He shouts. “I did it!”

The entire class looks over at him with a mixture of jealousy and pride on their faces. Slughorn walks over and waves his wand over the potion murmuring a spell. The fog takes the shape of a babbling brook, rays of sunshine, and a witch figure lounging on her back with a peaceful smile on her face. 

Slughorn gasps. “This is brilliant, Mr. Styles! Excellent, excellent work!” He waves his hand and several empty glasses vials float over to the table. “I wasn’t going to tell you this, but those who managed to complete the Draught, I will send samples of it to St. Mungo’s for testing and possible application.” Several students perk up and immediately return to their own potions. 

Harry swears his heart is going to stop. _St. Mungo’s_! His potion is going to be sent to the Healers at St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries! “Thank you so much, Professor!” Harry says as he writes his name, year, and the name of the potion on the vials.

“Not a problem, my boy. You have a natural talent for potion making. Are you thinking of being a potioneer?” Slughorn smiles at him and with a twist of his wrist, Harry’s Draught of Peace was being siphoned in the vials and sent to Slughorn’s desk. 

“Oh,” Harry fiddles with his wand, twisting it in his hands. “I actually want to be a Healer.”

Slughorn’s smile falters for only a second before it’s back up. “Well, I dare say that you will be an excellent Healer with potion making skills such as this!”

“Thank you, sir,” Harry gracefully says and returns to his desk to clean up. There’s still about twenty minutes of class left. 

“Thank you, Professor. You’re the bestest, Professor!” Niall whispers under his breath when Harry starts to clean up. “Is there anything else I can do for you, Professor?”

“Oh, hush,” Harry says as he pours the rest of the powder moonstone in the pot it came in and turn off the burner under his potion. “This is very important for me. If the Healers are impressed with my work, I could get an internship for the summer which would lead to a potential job. This is the beginning of the rest of my life, Niall!”

Niall snorts and adds more porcupine quills to his potion. “And where does the lovely Mr. Tomlinson fit into this picture.”

“Well, you know we’d actually have to talk and date before anything can be decided.”

Niall stares at him.

Harry sighs. “June wedding after I graduate and buy a flat overlooking the English Channel that’s wizard friendly before moving out to the countryside when we start having children so they have a large field to play in. Louis will be a badass Auror and a devoted father and lover,” Harry smirks at Niall’s grimace at the end. “But that’s just what I have in my mind. That’s not guaranteed to happen. Like I said, I have to talk to him for more than a night over tea.”

“Over tea?” Niall stirs his potion more until it’s a pale orange. “When did this happen?”

“Erm,” Harry pauses not realizing that he just mentioned what happened last night. “Last night? In the kitchens?”

It’s Niall’s turn to smirk and he takes a seat while his potion finishes simmering. “You sly wizard.”

Harry’s cheeks warm and he stuffs his book in his knapsack. “Nothing like that happened. We just talked…and it was…really nice.”

“Really nice?” Niall urges. “You really are gone for him aren’t you?”

“Hush.”

Niall leans back and downright cackles, startling the girl in front of them who accidentally pours about twice the correct amount of powdered moonstone in her potion which promptly bursts into flames.

“Horan!” She yells and turns to glare at the two of them.

Niall sobers up and rushes over to put the fire out. “Sorry, Rose. Totally didn’t mean to.” He helps her clean up the spilled moonstone. “Are we still on for tonight?”

She snaps her head to him. “Definitely not.”

Niall slumps over and walks back to their table looking like a kicked puppy. 

“Sorry about that, mate.”

Niall waves him off. “It’s not a big deal. But do you know what is? This fucking potion!” He points over his shoulder to his potion which is now a pale white. “I’m done, Professor!”

Niall smugly looks over at Harry when Slughorn sends praises to Niall and brings over more vials for Niall to label and fill.

“Alright, class! That’s it for today. If you’re not finished, please fill a vial, label it, and leave it on my desk. You’re dismissed.”

Harry gathers his things and waits for Niall to finish.

“Seems like we’re the best in the class!” Niall says and slings an arm over Harry’s shoulder.

“Oh, bite my ass,” Perrie says as she and Jade catch up with them. “I’m having an off day.”

“I just suck at potions,” Jade adds bluntly and Harry can’t help but burst out laughing.

“I can help you if you want,” He offers as they head to the Great Hall for lunch. 

“That’d be amazing,” Jade says linking their arms and walking past a group of First Years scrambling to get to the Great Hall. 

Harry shakes his head fondly. This is why he gets to breakfast so late. The Hall isn’t full yet since lunch only just started a few minutes ago and the foursome make their way to the middle of the Hufflepuff table. Trays of sandwiches float above bowls of various fruits and vegetables and Harry manages to snag a particular meaty sandwich before Niall could grab it. Harry swears he doesn’t moan when he takes a bite but Niall does give him the side-eye.

“What? I’m hungry?” He explains but it comes out more like “Wha? M’ ungry?”

Niall keeps eye contact for only a second before he leans over and grabs several chicken wings from the platter in front of him. “I didn’t say anything, mate. Just thought you would keep those noises exclusive to Tommo.”

This time, Harry really does groan. “I never should have told you about last night.”

“What happened last night?” Gryffindor and fellow Sixth Year, Liam Payne asks as he takes a seat next to Harry. 

Niall swallows his mouth full of chicken and answers. “Harry over here,” he gestures a drumstick towards Harry. “Went to the kitchens with Tommo last night and had tea together and talked. Now, he’s in love with ‘im.”

“”m not,” Harry defends.

Liam scoffs. “Yeah, sure mate.”

“What?” Harry squawks.

“You've eye-fucked him every single meal since First Year,” Liam deadpans.

“Excuse me, Liam. I have not.”

“No,” Niall agrees. “He just gives him the creepiest stare I’ve ever seen like he wants to devour him. He’s obscene.”

Harry promptly kicks Niall in the shin.

 

A couple hours later, after classes have ended and right before dinner, Harry is lounging in one of the oversized chairs in the common room. Dusty is curled in his lap using his knee as a pillow. It’s warm enough that he doesn’t need his sweater and it’s so very tempting to relax fully into the plush chair and go to sleep. But in order to become a Healer, he has to do well in almost all of his classes. Which means that he has to stay awake and push through.

Jack and Dennis are at one of the tables playing Exploding Snap. The radio is playing a rock and roll song by some witch artist that Harry can’t place but he bobs his head along to the beat as he reads. He absentmindedly scratches Dusty along her back.

“Harry!” Jack calls. “Do you ever stop studying?”

“You know he doesn’t. If he’s not staring Tommo down and planning their wedding, he has his nose in his books.” Edgar answers from where he’s laying in front of the fire writing a letter. 

“Oi, shut it,” Harry grumbles, used to this conversation. “When you blow your arse off by putting your wand in your back pocket, I’ll be the one putting you back together.”

Edgar snorts. “That can’t happen.”

“You want to take that bet?” Harry challenges and smirks when Edgar flips him off and goes back to his letter.

“So, will you become a Healer before or after you and Tommo have a few babies?” Jack asks winking at Harry and Harry blushes. He should really work on being more subtle about his feelings.

He goes back to his books and Dusty bumps his hand when he stops petting her. “Drama queen,” He whispers to her. He gets lost in the history of transfiguration and the only thing in his mind is the sound of pages turning and cards exploding from Jack and Dennis’ game. The room dims for just a second as clouds cover the sun and the overhead lights brighten to stimulate sunshine in the room. The various plants hanging from the ceiling move towards the pseudo sunlight and some of them release a sigh of relief. Harry loves the Hufflepuff common room.

Twenty minutes later, about ten pages further in the text, the common room door opens and a sopping wet Perrie come in.

“What happened to you?” Jack asks not doing anything to hide his laughter at her appearance. Her Quidditch uniform was stuck to her like a second skin and mud was cake on her face except for her eyes where she must have been wearing goggles.

“Quidditch practice,” Was all Perrie gave as explanation and Jack nods knowingly. 

“You do realize there’s a charm to help with…that,” He gestures towards where her clothes are dripping on the floor.

Perrie sneers at him. “Don’t you think we would have done it then?”

“What she means,” Jade says through her giggles from where she’s walked down the staircase to Harry’s right and across from her soaking friend. “is that she’s horrible at the warming charm.”

“Wait,” Jack points to Perrie. “Are _you_ the one who had to go to the infirmary last week because they gave themselves sunburn?” He throws his head back in body shaking laughter when Perrie glares at him.

“Harry,” Perrie whines and walks over to him, her shoes squeaking with every step. “Help?”

Harry giggles as he takes his wand out, points it at her, and murmurs the incantation. In a couple seconds, Perrie’s uniform is dry but the mud on her face is still there.

She sighs in relief. “That’s much better. Thanks Haz, you’re a _real_ friend,” She turns and glares at Jack who is shamelessly staring at her bum.

“Go take a shower, stinky. I might have dried you off but you still smell like a mud puddle.” Harry says waving his hand in front of his face. 

“Oh, bite me,” Perrie says and moves past Jade to head up to the Sixth Year girl’s dormitory.

Jade plops down on one of the armrests of Harry’s chair and leans over to pick Dusty up who immediately starts purring when Jade scratches under her chin. “Can you help me with potions now? Or are you busy?”

Harry sits up and closes his transfiguration book. “Yeah, I’m free. Do you want to head to the library?”

“Sure,” Jade says and gets up, placing Dusty on the chair once Harry has stood. The black cat curls up in the middle and Harry rolls his eyes at his lazy pet. “Let me go get my books and I’ll be ready.” 

Harry nods and waits as she rushes up the staircase leading to the girl’s dormitory. He knows not to follow or else the stairs would turn into a slide; a quirk Hogwarts Castle has as a way of keeping boys out of the girl’s rooms.

A minute later, Jade comes bounding down the stairs. “Ready,” She says and links arms with him as they head out of the common room. The corridors are chilly with October air and the two Hufflepuffs press closer together. Harry can still hear the storm raging on, thunder rocking the castle every now and then. Harry is thankful that the Hufflepuff common room gives the illusion of peaceful days and nights or else Dusty wouldn’t leave his side or stop meowing until he relents and cuddles with her under the covers of his bed. 

“So,” Jade says as the get closer to the library. 

“So?” Harry asks curious where the conversation was going but already having an idea. 

“The Slytherin’s were leaving the Quidditch field when I was walking to the stands. And Jesy mentioned something about meeting at the Three Broomsticks. A pre-Halloween thing.”

Harry glances over at his friend who is blatantly staring at him. “What?”

“Harry,” Jade says, exasperation in her tone. 

“What?” He looks away.

“I think you should actually _talk_ to Louis then. He’s going to be there. Him and Jesy have gotten really close since they’re both on the Slytherin Quidditch team.

Jesy Nelson is a 7th year and a Beater like Louis. Last year, they managed to knock the entire Hufflepuff team off their brooms, or in Perrie’s case break her arm via a Bludger, during a game. Subsequently, Slytherin won the game and Perrie was in the Hospital Wing long enough for Madame Pomfrey to brew up a bone mending potion. Harry remembers how Louis came rushing into the Hospital Wing and to Perrie’s bedside still in his dirty Quidditch robes apologizing profusely for hitting the Bludger in her direction. 

Harry couldn’t help but notice how _good_ he looked in his Quidditch robes and his heart practically melted when he learned yet again just how kind Louis was. He has the ability to be a complete badass while also being a sweetheart at the same time. He’s an enigma and Harry was enamored.

“Let’s hope the weather holds out or else I’ll need to teach you how to do the Drying charm properly,” Harry says avoiding Jade’s suggestion.

“We’ll work on that too tonight,” Jade sighs.

They turn the corner and Harry spies Peeves the Poltergeist floating above high in the air, water balloons in his arms. Harry jerks the two of them back around the corner.

“What?” 

“Peeves,” Harry whispers and Jade peeks around him to see for herself.

“Want to find an empty classroom?”

Harry nods and they turn around and head back the same way they came not wanting to be victims of Peeve’s tricks. They eventually find one and get to work. An hour and a half later, Jade’s headband, offered up for practice of the drying charm is still sopping wet.

“Argh!” Jade hollers while waving her wand repeatedly at the item.

“You’ll get it!” Harry reassures putting a hand on her wand to stop the motion. “Stop doing that or you might actually inflame your headband.”

Jade turns to glare at him. “Harry, it’s not working. Are you sure you know the right incantation?”

Harry glares back.

“Okay, you’re right.”

Harry nods. “Okay, start again and speak clearly. Your accent is getting in the way.”

“Watch it,” Jade says and points her wand at him. Harry puts his hands up until she turns back around and says the incantation in a clear voice. She goes to touch the headband and squeals, hoisting it up. “It’s dry!”

Harry joins her cheers and the two jump up and down. A clearing of a throat stops their celebration and they turn to see Professor McGonagall standing in the doorway. 

They immediately stop. The transfiguration professor’s lips curl up in a smile. “Curfew is about to start, I suggest a trip to the kitchens if you want food Miss. Thirlwall, Mr. Styles.”

“Yes, Professor. Thank you,” Harry says breathlessly and the two pack up their things and follow McGonagall out the door. 

 

That night, Harry is lying in bed with Dusty curled on his pillow and _Jaws_ by Peter Benchley opened. His older sister, Gemma, had mailed it to him the other week. In her letter attached, she begged him to read it and let her know what he thought. Now, he thinks that she sent it to him as a prank because holy shit was this frightening. 

Right when the great white shark was attacking someone _again_ , Harry snapped the book closed and stared up at the top of the bed curtains. The room was silent, Edgar must have remembered to cast a _Silencio_ spell on himself before he went to sleep. Harry should be asleep like the others, but he cannot get to sleep, seeing a shark swimming towards him mouth wide open every time he closes his eyes. He decides he needs a cup of tea to calm himself down and he gingerly gets out of bed and slips on his slippers and dressing gown. Dusty, still asleep, rolls over to the warm spot Harry left.

He makes sure to grab his wand and leaves the dormitory. Outside the common room is bitterly cold. The threat of winter hanging heavy in the air and Harry is thankful that he’s wearing his dressing gown. When he reaches the kitchens, he hears a familiar voice talking quietly and his heart practically skips a beat.

Louis is stilling next to a House Elf sipping tea and looking adorably disheveled as if he too rolled out of bed. Louis trails off when he looks up to see Harry standing there and a wide grin comes across his face.

“Can’t sleep again?”

Harry shakes his head and sits next to the older boy. “I was reading this book my sister sent to me. Sorta freaked be out.”

“What’s it about?” Louis asks looking genuinely interested.

“There’s this island somewhere in America and a huge great white shark that’s killing anyone who goes in the water. But the local government refuses to do anything about it because they don’t believe it’s that big of a problem even though two people have died.”

Louis’ lips turn up in a smile. “And that’s scary?”

“The author is doing a really good job at describing the attacks. My sister told me it’s being made into a movie coming out next year.”

“What’s a movie?” Louis asks his face scrunching up.

“You-” Harry pauses. “You don’t know what a move is?”

Louis leans back against the table. “No, is it a Muggle thing?”

Harry laughs, relaxing against his seat. “Yeah, a Muggle thing. It’s…well. I don’t really know how to describe it properly.”

“Well, what kind of help are you, Curly?” Louis jokes laughing at the younger boy and Harry blushes but smiles.

“You should go see it with me when it comes out so you’ll know how scary it is and know what a movie is.” The proposition is out of Harry’s mouth before he realizes that he basically just asked Louis out on a date. He freezes, his muscles tensing up and he tries not to let his inner panic show on his face.

He must be doing a tremendous job because Louis smirks at him. “Why do we have to wait until this ‘movie’ comes out?”

“Wha-” Harry clears his throat. “What?”

“Yeah,” Louis nods and stares directly at the younger boy and Harry is captured. “What are you doing this Saturday?”

“‘M going to Hogsmeade with Niall and Jade. We’re meeting Liam, Leigh-Anne, and Jesy later at the Three Broomsticks.”

Louis shifts in his seat like _he’s_ the one that’s nervous. “What about before that? Would you want to meet me at that tea shop? Or the candy shop?”

“Erm, with the others or-” 

“Just us!” Louis interrupts him and he fiddles with the edge of his own dressing gown.

What?

Harry has a five-second mental freak out over Louis Tomlinson asking him out before he can answer. “Yeah, that-that sounds great. Um, when do you want me to meet you?”

“Right after breakfast, in the corridor next to McGonagall’s class. We could walk to Hogsmeade together, if you want.”

Harry grins and nods his head. “Yeah, that sounds great.”

Louis reciprocates his smile and gets up from the table. “I can walk you back to your common room? Unless you came here for something?”

“Oh,” Harry says looking up at Louis. “No, I’m fine now. We can go.”

“Great,” Louis says and holds a hand out towards Harry. He swears he doesn’t blush when he takes Louis’ hand in his but his cheeks do feel warm as they make their way out of the kitchen and down the corridor.

 

Harry wakes up on Saturday with a huge smile on his face. He hurries to get dressed and meet Niall at the Ravenclaw table for breakfast. The ceiling of the Great Hall is bright blue, matching the sky outside. 

“Morning, Niall,” Harry says and takes a seat next to him.

“Morning, Haz. Ready to go to Hogsmeade?”

“Yeah,” he reaches out and fills his plate with eggs. “Definitely ready. The most ready.” He starts scarfing down his food and Niall gives him a concerned look from where he’s finishing his second helping.

“What’s the rush? We have all day to spend before we need to go to the bar. Slow down, geez.”

Harry swallows his mouthful. “No rush, I’m… just really hungry this morning. And I don’t want Liam to get all the eggs when he gets here.”

The next second, Liam sits down next to Harry. “Good morning, boys!” When he reaches across Harry to get a scoop of eggs, Harry slaps his hand away. “What’d you do that for?”

“Excuse me, Liam,” Harry says making sure his tone sounds like he’s offended. “Those are mine.”

“Are you okay?” Liam asks bringing a hand up to feel Harry’s forehead.

“I’m fine. Just want to get through breakfast,” Harry explains sheepishly.

Liam leans back and looks over Harry’s shoulder to look at Niall who is giving Harry a bewildered look.

“”ve no idea, Payno,” Niall says when Liam sends him a questioning look. 

They continue to talk over Harry as he quickly finishes his food. He gets up and Liam pauses in his story to look up at Harry.

“What’s up?”

“Erm,” Harry reaches up to brush his hair behind his ears. “I’m going to the library for a bit before we go to Hogsmeade. I’ll meet you guys there.”

“Really, Haz?” Niall whines behind a mouthful of sausage.

“I’ll meet you there. Promise!” He says and backs up. He glances over at the Slytherin table and doesn’t see the blue eyed boy. Louis must already be waiting for him. He quickens his pace and heads over to the corridor. Most of the students are still in bed, it is a Saturday after all, so the halls are relatively silent, a mirror effect of only a few hours ago when it seemed like Louis and Harry were the only ones in the castle walking hand in hand.

Louis is leaning up against the wall when Harry turns the corner and he smiles brightly. Louis is out of his school robes, as is Harry, and Harry can’t but be grateful for high waisted jeans. They show off the curve of Louis’ thighs and a plain back t-shirt tuck in the waist. Harry’s thankful that Louis is dress casually so he doesn’t feel out of place wearing a Rolling Stones shirt and jeans. 

“Who are the Rolling Stones?” Louis asks as Harry walks up.

He gasps and presses a hand to his chest. “What? I can’t believe that even a Pure-Blood doesn’t know who the greatest band of all time is. You need to take Muggle Studies. It’s imperative that you learn.”

Louis grins and takes Harry’s hand. “Maybe you can teach me then.”

“Deal.”

They walk out of Hogwarts together and towards the carriages to take them to Hogsmeade. They’re some of the first ones there so they manage to get a carriage to themselves.

“What do you want to do when we get there?” Louis asks.

Harry shrugs and shuffles a bit closer to Louis so he can press their arms together. “I’m up for anything. Might go to the bookstore to pick some things up. And definitely Honeydukes at some point.”

“Mind if we stop by the Quidditch shop? I need to find some better gear for meself for the season.”

“When’s your first game?” He looks over at Louis and sees him pull his eyebrows up.

“Do you want to come?” He asks, shocked.

“Yeah,” Harry nods and looks down at his hands. “I- I think the view would be worth it. Even if you are going to play Hufflepuff sometime during the season.”

Louis grins. “The season starts next weekend. We play Ravenclaw first, I think.”

“I’ll be there,” Harry smiles up at him.

When the carriage reaches Hogsmeade, Louis helps Harry down and keeps his hand in his own. Harry preens at the gesture and follows Louis into the village. It’s still early in the day that not very many students are there yet, but the stores are open awaiting visitors. Their first stop is at the bookstore for Harry to peruse the stacks and drool over the various quill sets on one of the displays. He picks up a bottle of ink and goes to find Louis who wandered off. He finds the older boy in the children’s section.

“Are you looking for anything?” He asks Louis.

Louis looks up from where he was crouching down to look at the titles on the bottom shelf. “I want to send my sisters something but I can’t seem to find anything that they already don’t have.”

“Do you send them stuff often?”

Louis nods and stands up. “Yeah,” he says sheepishly. “I hate not being there for most of the year. Before I left for school, I always read to the girls at night. That way me mum could have a few moments to herself.”

Harry smiles at him. “Will you go home for Christmas then?”

“Usually do. My birthday’s Christmas Eve and Mum goes all out for it. The girls too.” 

“Oh, well that makes sense. I didn’t know your birthday was then,” Harry confesses and it’s true. He knew that Louis left during winter break because he would see him get on the train when the term ended. Harry stayed at Hogwarts to keep Niall company since the Irishman isn’t able to travel to Ireland during break.

“Means you have to give me a present now that you know,” Louis teases and bumps shoulders with him.

“Suppose if I have to,” Harry smirks and grabs Louis’ hand, lacing their fingers together.

 

Lunchtime finds Harry and Louis in a booth at the back of the Three Broomsticks as they wait for their food.

“What else is there to know about you?” Louis asks, settling an arm over the seat. Harry can feel the weight over his shoulders. He squirms closer to the older boy and Louis curls his arm tighter around him.

“Not much. I’m not coordinated enough for Quidditch. I’m always studying and my friends tease me for it. I can’t even pull off a good prank.”

Louis smirks and clears his throat. “It’s a good thing you’re with the Tommo. I’m ace at pranks. 

“Want to prank Liam?”

“Oh, yes please!” Louis bursts out laughing. “I’m always up for pranking a Gryffindor. Plus, Liam is such an easy target.”

“Great! When do we start?”

“Settle down there, Curly,” Louis holds a hand out and the smile on his face doesn’t move. “We’ve got to plan first and study our target so we can properly pull one over on him.”

“Okay,” Harry says, easily agreeing with Louis. If it means that he can spend more time with the older boy, then he’s will do anything. Their food comes floating over and placed in front of them. 

“Yes,” Louis says bring his arm down much to Harry’s discontent. “‘M starving.”

Harry scoots over slightly to give Louis more room but he looks over at him curiously. 

“What’s wrong? Do I have dragon pox all of a sudden?”

Harry blushes but shakes his head.

Louis smirks and hooks his foot over Harry’s and tugs until Harry comes closer again. They eat in silence for a few moment before Harry bursts.

“What are we?” And he immediately looks down at his chips and winces when he sees Louis pause, his fork poised halfway to his mouth.

“Erm,” Louis mumbles and places his fork down. “I-I really like you, H.” He turns towards him and peeks up through his lashes. “I think you’re smart and really hot. And you’re really cute when you have your nose in a book when you’re at the library. You-” Louis blushes. “You get this adorable pout on your face when you can’t understand something, but when you figure it out, your face lights up and you wiggle in your seat like you’re celebrating.”

Harry stares at him in shock. He can’t remember telling Louis those things. He can’t even remember doing some of the things Louis said he did. That must mean… “Do you watch me in the library?” He blurts out and he sees read come across Louis’ face and neck.

“Erm, I- a bit, yeah,” He confesses and he brushes his hair across his forehead. “My second year here, I saw you climb a bookcase to try to get a book down. I had already learned the levitating spell so I helped you.”

“That was you?” Harry asks astonished. “I thought that it was the castle helping me!”

Louis giggles, seeming to be more relax after his confession. “No, it was me, love.”

Harry glances down at Louis’ lips and this is when they should kiss, right? There’s a chant in his head yelling at him to lean forward and kiss the boy already. Louis seems to have a similar mantra because he see’s his eyes look down at Harry’s lips. Louis leans forward and Harry holds his breath but then he feels someone slide in beside him.

“Sorry, lads. Place is full,” Niall says and Jade, Leigh-Anne, Jesy, and Liam slide into the seat opposite of Harry and Louis.

Louis leans back and Harry sees him grimace for a second before he plasters a smile on his face. He licks his lips and Harry wishes that he could be able to do that for him. “No worries. Has and I were just getting to know each other a little more.”

Leigh-Anne snorts and Jade leans into her shoulder to hide her giggle.

Harry blushes when Louis smirks and wraps his arm back around Harry’s shoulders. Somehow, Harry thinks that he’ll leave it there. He tucks himself into Louis’ side and hooks their feet together.

“Have you been here the whole time, H?” Niall asks, stealing some of Harry’s chips. Harry smacks his hand away and Niall whines.

“Yeah, I have,” he replies.

“Well, you’ve had really good company,” Jesy points out.

“ _Really_ good company,” Jade teases. The girls giggle and Harry looks down at his food trying to bite back a smile but failing.

“What’s the plan for the rest of the day?” Niall asks and Harry looks over at Louis who’s already looking at him.

“Not sure, might head to Zonko’s for a but.”

“Oh, no,” Jesy sighs. “Don’t tell me you’re getting more supplies.”

“Quit your moaning! I never do anything to you!”

“Because I’ll beat you over your head of you do?”

“No, because I haven’t figured out how to get to the girl’s dormitory yet and none of the other Slytherin girls will help me!”

“Wait,” Liam perks up from the end of the table. “Is _that_ why you always prank me?”

“No, you’re just an easy target, Liam,” Louis explains and Harry bursts out laughing. The others get their food then and Harry settles against Louis’ side. He eats his chips while Jade and Louis argue over the Puddlemere United team’s season. Harry doesn’t really follow professional Quidditch but he loves how passionate Louis is when he talks about it. Louis uses his free hand to gesture along with his argument—something about a seeker and a chaser—and Harry forgets where he is for a moment. All he can see sis Louis and hear his voice raising in volume when he wants to be heard over everyone’s talking. A sharp jab to his side snaps him out of it though. 

“What?”

Niall wiggles his eyebrows and looks pointedly between Louis and Harry.

“Shut it,” Harry mutters and elbows him back.

 

A few butterbeers later, Harry is dancing back into Louis. Louis’ hands are wrapped around his waist. Half of his fourth drink is in his hand and he feels buzzed and warm. Their group turned the pub into a face floor with Leigh-Anne and Jesy leading the way. Perrie eventually joined them and once the Hufflepuff Quidditch team was done practicing. 

Louis leans down to whisper in Harry’s ear. “Liam’s distracted. Let’s get started.”

“How?” Harry asks, tipping his head back on Louis’ shoulder.

“Follow me.”

Harry almost falls back from how fast Louis moves but he’s quick to grab Harry’s hand and pull him back over to their table.

“Okay,” Louis hiccups and giggles as he takes a swig of butterbeer. “What jinx should we do on Liam? I suggest something to change his appearance or annoy him.”

Harry is a giggly, smiley mess as he leans against the older boy and Louis welcomes him. “I learned the self-transfiguration charm this past week. I could give him feathers.”

“Oooh, good idea. You do it. Consider it as a trail run into the Tommo Prank Club.”

“You have a prank club?” Harry asks in awe and Louis smiles widely at him.

“Do now I suppose.” 

“Sweet,” Harry says and he pulls out his wand. Across the room, Liam is dancing with Perrie and Leigh-Anne. 

He’s just about to say the incantation when Louis puts a hand over his mouth. “Wait! ‘ve got a better idea!”

Harry turns to look at him and Louis has a crazed look in his eye. “Say _Tarantallegra_ instead. Trust me, it’ll be good.”

“Got it,” Harry looks back at Liam, points his wand at him and mutters “ _Tarantallegra_.” A spider the size of a regular rucksack comes shooting out of his wand and lands on Liam’s back. Immediately, the girls start screaming when they see it and Liam turns his head to see fangs right by his neck. 

“What the fuck?” Liam screams and starts running around scaring the other customers and knocking over chairs. 

Harry snaps his attention to Louis who has turned pale. “Is that what was suppose to happen?”

“No,” he says sounding more sober than a moment ago. “It was suppose to make him dance erratically. Not…that.”

“How do we change it?” He can hear Liam still screaming and panicking from behind him.

“Erm, I don’t think I remember the counter-jinx,” Louis confesses, biting his lip.

“What?!” Harry turns back to the scene in the middle of the pub. Liam is turning in circles, much like a dog trying to chase its own tail, while someone else tries to pry the creature off. But, the spider seems too comfortable where he is and clings to Liam like a backpack.

“ _Petrificus Totalus_!” Someone casts and both Liam and the spider freeze and come crashing to the floor as Liam’s arms and legs snap together. Harry winces at the large crash and looks to see who cast the spell. Niall lazily puts his wand away and goes over to the now petrified Liam.

“Come on, let's get you sorted,” the Irishman says and he starts to pry the spider’s legs off of Liam’s torso. 

“Maybe we should wait until we’re more sober,” Harry suggest, leaning back into Louis’ chest to whisper to him, not able to take his eyes off the spectacle in front of him.

Louis’ body shakes as he starts to cackle and wraps and arm around Harry’s waist. “No, that was much better than I ever imagined. Welcome to the club, Harold.”

 

The next night, Harry rolls out of bed slowly as to not wake anyone, slips on his shoes, grabs his wand, and walks out of the dormitory. It’s after midnight, meaning it’s well past curfew, so Harry’s cautious as he leaves the common room and walks down the corridor. He hopes it’s late enough that the professors are sleeping but he knows that someone is always wandering around the halls especially due to the events happening outside of the castle. 

He climbs the stairs to the seventh floor and his heart stops for a second when he sees someone standing in front of a tapestry but relaxes when he recognizes the figure. 

Louis turns as Harry steps closer, grins and pulls Harry in for a hug. 

“Hey, Haz,” the older boy greets. “Did you have any trouble sneaking out?”

Harry shakes his head. “No, but why are we on the seventh floor? I thought the Slytherin Common Room was on the basement level?”

Louis scoffs. “I can’t confirm or deny that. But we’re here so we can plan a proper prank on Liam. Last night was child’s play.”

“Conjuring a giant spider was child’s play?”

“Hush. Now, behold the greatest secret of Hogwarts castle!” Louis gestures towards the blank wall across from the tapestry and Harry stares at the brick for a moment before turning to Louis with a blank stare.

“What?” Louis asks, dropping his hands when he sees Harry’s reaction.

“This is a brick wall, Lou.”

“Very good observation. I had no idea,” Louis deadpans. “Just walk back and forth in front of that wall three times and imagine a room. It can be any room you want.”

Harry continues staring at him unimpressed. 

“Go on! I promise it’ll be worth it.”

Harry sighs but does so. He closes his eyes and thinks of his bedroom back home. A single bed pushed against the corner to the wall. A bookcase directly across from the foot of the bed. Light blue walls with cream shaggy carpet. A spaced themed lava lamp on his bedside table. 

When he opens his eyes, he’s met with a wooden door were the brick wall once was that suspiciously looks like the one back at home. He glances over at Louis who’s smirking at him.

“What just happened?”

Louis goes over to lace their fingers together. “Let’s find out.”

Louis opens the door and Harry gasps when he steps in an exact replica of his bedroom back at home. Everything he thought of is there along with some new things. A fireplace in where his bathroom door usually is and how twin bed is now a double.

“Wha-”

Louis chuckles and leads them over to the bed. “I guess this is your bedroom?”

Harry releases a forced laugh and he turns around in the space to see every detail. “I-yeah it is. How did this- I mean…what?”

“It’s called the Room of Requirement. I found it last year when I was homesick. I figured out that the room turns into whatever you want. A storage closet, bathroom, bedroom, study room…anything.”

“This is amazing,” Harry says and finally joins Louis on the bed. 

Louis smiles and looks down at his hands. “I thought you might like it. And it’s a the perfect place for us to meet. I don’t think very many people know about this place. Plus, once the room is in use, no one else can use it. That way,” he scoots back to recline on the bed and kicks off his shoes. “No one can bother us.”

Harry grins at that and falls back against the soft bed and sighs. “Sounds perfect.”

“Um,” Louis begins and Harry can hear the nerves in his tone. “I know nothing was really said last night at the Three Broomsticks but…”

Harry turn his head towards Louis and sees the older boy fiddle with the edges of his sleeves. He suddenly feels nervous too, unsure about what Louis is going to say. 

“Well, you already know my stalker tendencies when it comes to you. And I think you’re rather fit. I-I would like to take you on a proper date, without our friends barging in.”

Harry grins and brushes his fingers over Louis’ knee, the flannel of his sleep pant soft against his fingertips. “Yeah,” he says softly. “I’d like that too…boyfriend.”

Louis looks down at him and lights up. He lays down until they’re laying down on the bed, nose to nose.“Yeah, boyfriend.”

 

A week later, the Quidditch season has started. The Ravenclaw and Slytherin Houses are decked out in their respective House colors. Harry is sitting with Louis at the Slytherin table. Louis’ Slytherin scarf wrapped around Harry’s neck while the older boy is already dressed in his Quidditch robes minus the pads. 

Jesy is on Louis’ other side, discussing their game strategy. With both of them beating the team’s Beaters, they have to make sure they’re in sync with one another. The other members of the team are sitting around Louis, their captain. All of the Great Hall is abuzz with excitement. The cloud is dotted with white puffy clouds and it’s bound to be a great game. Harry is especially amped since his boyfriend—his first every boyfriend—is playing.

“As soon as you finish breakfast, head down to the field house, we need to go over last minute plays.” Everyone nods at Louis’ instructions except for one player who rolls his eyes. Louis takes notice. “Got a problem with that, Max?”

The team and Harry look over at the boy who is staring Louis down, hatred in his brown eyes. “We’ve been doing nothing but talking about plays and strategy for weeks. Can’t we have one meal without you cramming all of that down our throats?”

Harry grips his wand in the pocket of his jacket. Louis must sense the tension in his body because he presses his thumb against Harry’s thigh. 

“If you aren’t serious about this team like the rest of us, then why don’t you quit?” Louis challenges.

Max stares Louis down before he pushes away from the table. He says nothing and Louis watches as he walks out of the Great Hall. 

The table is silent until Louis clears his throat. “Anyway. Thompson, eat some protein,” he says and pushes the bowl of eggs closer to the blonde haired boy in front of Harry. “You need your strength today. Ravenclaw’s Seeker has been getting quicker with finding the Snitch.”

The players relax slightly and go back to their side conversations. 

“Will he show up?” Harry whispers to Louis, leaning into his side.

Louis places his hand on Harry’s thigh. “Yeah, Max is bitter that I made captain again. He’s been gunning for captain since last season. He’s too prideful to let me show him up.” Louis looks at Harry and presses a kiss to his temple. “Don’t worry, love.”

Harry preens and goes back to his breakfast. 

When the Slytherin team goes down the field house, Harry goes over to the Ravenclaw table. “Good luck today,” he says to Niall when he approaches.

Some of the Ravenclaw students send glares Harry’s direction because of his attire but he brushes them off. 

“Yeah, yeah,” the Ravenclaw Quidditch captain says waving Harry off. “You want your boyfriend to win more.”

“I mean…” Harry starts grinning and Niall shoves him away.

Harry giggles and walks to the Hufflepuff table to where Jade and Perrie are talking. “You ready to head down?” He asks them. Students are already starting to file out of the Hall, everyone ready for the game to start and to get a good seat. 

“Yeah,” Perrie says and gets up to join him. 

“Nice scarf,” Jade comments and Harry’s grin expands into a full fledged smile. 

“Thanks.”

They join the crowd of students walking out of the castle and over to the Quidditch pitch. “Will you be sitting with the Slytherins or…?” Jade asks.

“Hufflepuff. Definitely,” Harry answers and stumbles over the downhill slope.

“Geez, Haz. You’re like a newborn baby deer,” Perrie says, linking her arm with his to keep him balanced.

“It’s not my fault the castle is on a big bloody hill.”

The stands are starting to fill but the three manage to find a spot in the front row of the Hufflepuff section. The wooden seats are slightly uncomfortable but Harry is practically vibrating in his seat with how excited he is for the game to start. So he can see Louis in action and be able to think _that’s my boyfriend_. He looks around to see what looks like the entire school walking into the pitch. Even the Hufflepuff and Gryffindor sections are filling up. Everyone is excited for the beginning of the Quidditch season. 

Minutes later, after Harry is pushed and shuffle over a couple times to let others get in, the seats are full and the buzz from the Great Hall has now turned into a loud roar. Madame Sangster, the flying instructor, walks into the center of the pitch. She raises her wand to her throat and projects her voice so everyone in the stands can hear her.

“Good afternoon, Headmaster, professors, students,” she begins, her Scottish accent thick and the roar grows. “Today Slytherin and Ravenclaw will be playing. Please welcome the Ravenclaw team.”

The Ravenclaw section cheers as the seven players in blue robes fly out of the field house. The Gryffindor section joins in, their hatred towards the Slytherin team evident.

“…and the Slytherin team!” Sangster continues and Harry’s eyes dart over to where green cladded players join the others. Harry claps enthusiastically searching the sky for Louis.

From this distance, all of the players look the same other than the color of their gear. The players fly around the pitch until they create a circle floating several feet around Sangster. Two players go to the center and two others go to the goal posts set up on either side of the pitch. 

“Captains, shake hands,” Madame Sangster instructs. Niall and Louis flyer closer and Harry perks up when he sees Louis. The two captains shake hands and return to their team’s side of the circle. Madame Sangster waves her wand towards a trunk laying by her feet. The lid opens and the two Bludgers fly out and several players have to duck to avoid it hitting them. Harry barely sees the Snitch fly out too, but he sees the teams two Seekers immediately snap their heads to follow its movements.

Madame Sangster lifts the fourth ball out of the trunk. “Keep the game clean, players.” And she throws up the Quaffle. 

The stands cheer when a Ravenclaw player snatches it out of the air and flies towards the Slytherin’s end of the pitch. Harry watches as the players swarm around, the Quaffle being passed from player to player. With a pass to a Ravenclaw player from behind the back and narrowly missing the hands of a Slytherin player, the player throws it towards a hoop and the Quaffle soars through.

“Ten points to Ravenclaw!” Colin Patel, a fifth year Hufflepuff and the official Quidditch commentator, announces and the Ravenclaws yell out in celebration. 

Harry winces slightly but he knows that it’s only the beginning the game. The game carries on when the Slytherin Keeper throws the Quaffle to a Slytherin Chaser. 

Soon, the score is 90-70 with Ravenclaw ahead. Harry focuses in on Louis and he can tell how frustrated the older boy is. For the past several possessions, there’s been one Slytherin player who keeps letting a Ravenclaw player intercept the pass or misses the hoop completely. It doesn’t take Harry too long to figure out who it could be.

“Settle down there, Harry,” Perrie teases as he clinches his hands together as the Snitch flies past with the two Seekers close behind. 

Jade snickers beside him and he blushes. “Piss off. I want Louis to win.”

“I think it’s cute,” Jade says leaning against her head against him. “But you do need to relax. It’s only a game.”

“And it’s the first game of the season,” Perrie points out. 

“I know,” Harry says right when he sees Louis hits the Bludger towards a Ravenclaw player, causing them to swerve away and miss the Quaffle. 

Then he hears an uproar coming from the Slytherin section and he looks over to where the two Seekers are racing towards the Snitch, hands stretched out in front of them. The Slytherin players edges out the Ravenclaw and his hand clasps over the Snitch. The entire Slytherin section breaks out in cheers when they hear Madame Sangster announces that Slytherin wins the game 90-220 since the Snitch is worth 150 points. 

Harry jumps up and down and pulls Perrie and Jade in for a hug. Despite his cheering, he can see Louis land on the field and his movements stiff as he walks into the field house. 

Perrie pulls out of the hug and smirks at him. “Go get your boy. I’ll see you for dinner.”

Jade squeezes his arm and follows Perrie as they join the crowd of students leaving the stands. Harry gets swept up in the flow but diverts when they get to the bottom of the stands and heads over to the field house. He doesn’t want to walk in, especially since he knows they might be changing or having a team meeting, and waits outside. When Niall walks out, he sends him a sympathetic smile. “Good game, Nialler.”

Niall grins at him and shrugs. “Thanks, Haz. See you at dinner?”

“Yeah, probably.”

Niall rolls his eyes and joins his other teammates walking back to the castle. Slytherin players come trailing out cheering. Most don’t see Harry but he doesn’t care. He just wants to see how Louis is doing. A few minutes later, Max comes storming out, clear that Louis must have chewed him out. He does see Harry and Max goes over to Harry.

“Your boyfriend,” he spits out the word. “Is nothing more than a pretentious asshole.”

“Max,” a voice calls out in warning before Harry can say anything and he turns around to see Louis walking out of the field house glaring at Max. He looks downright angry. Tension rolling off his body.

Max noticeably swallows, clinches his jaw, and stalks off.

Louis comes to stand beside of Harry and Harry immediately pulls Louis in for a hug. The older boy relaxes slightly against Harry’s body and takes a deep breath. 

“You played great today, Lou.”

Louis chuckles and pulls back far enough to look at Harry. “Yeah, but I had to kick Max off the team. The brat wanted us to lose so I would be seen as a shit captain. Idiot.”

“You kicked him out?”

“Had to. I need to hold tryouts tomorrow so I can replace him and train with the new player before our next game. It’s against Gryffindor and I refuse to lose to them.”

“Liam will be happy then,” Harry points out.

Louis gasps. “Turning against me are we?”

Harry giggles and shakes his head. “No, just pointing out the facts. Liam’s the captain so he will be happy to hear that his chances of winning just grew a bit.”

“You _are_ turning against me. I’ve been betrayed,” Louis says, pulling out of their embrace in favor of taking Harry’s hand and starting to walk back to the castle. 

“I’ve been found out. I confess. I was after Liam this entire time.”

Louis sighs. “I knew it.”

They walk in silence for a moment before Harry scrunches up his eyebrows. “I’m glad you kicked him out though. He was mean to you.”

“It was nothing I couldn’t handle though, H.”

“Yeah, but I wanted to jinx him, Lou. _He_ deserves to get a giant spider attached to his back.”

Louis throws his head back laughing and brings his free hand to press against his mouth. “Oh, I wish you would have, H. I would have loved to see that.”

“Next time then,” Harry says and grins as he feels Louis relax beside him.

“Well then,” Louis says, mischief in his eyes. “Let’s celebrate.”

 

Harry drops his knapsack on the floor before he collapses on the bed in the Room of Requirement the next night. He splays his limbs out, his left hand hitting Louis’ leg from where he’s laying at the top of the bed. 

“Why did we drink so much Firewhiskey last night?” Harry groans and rolls over on his side to look at the older boy who looks just as miserable as he feels.

Louis rubs at his temples and closes his eyes, leaning back against the pillows. “I don’t know. It’s devil water. I blame Jesy.”

“Shh,” Harry says waving his hand towards Louis. “Too loud.”

“Ugh, come up here. I wanna nap.”

“We have homework.”

“Nap first, then homework,” Louis reasons and Harry crawls up the bed until Louis can wrap his arms around him and tug him into his chest. They don’t bother pulling up the covers. 

 

The next morning, Harry and Niall stroll down the corridor towards Slughorn’s class. The morning had been slow and left Harry feeling drowsy. Once they woke up from their three hour nap, Harry and Louis got to work. Harry forced Louis to listen to the Rolling Stones while they studied. Well, Harry brought his books to study and ended up dancing with Louis to the songs and having a food fight with the Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Bean that he had brought with him. Louis had told him that the Room annoyingly can’t create food.

When Niall and Harry turn the corner to Slughorn’s classroom, he sees Slytherins walk out of the room and he glances down the hall to see if he could spot his boyfriend. When he doesn’t he turns around only to be scared by feeling hands on his waist. He squeals and pivots on his heel.

Louis his laughing at him, crinkles showing up at the corner of his eyes. “Morning, H.”

Harry pouts until Louis leans in and kisses him on the cheek. “Don’t be mean. You know I hate it when you do that.”

Louis rolls his eyes and leans in to kiss him on the cheek again. They had yet to actually kiss yet and Harry couldn’t wait. “Don’t pout, love.” He backs away to join his other classmates. “See you tonight?”

Harry nods and Louis smiles before turning around and catching up with Jesy. Harry walks in the classroom to see Niall already at their table.

“You two are disgustingly cute,” Niall says as he rearranges the cauldrons .

“Yeah, I know,” Harry sighs. Niall roll his eyes and gets up to go over to the pantry to get the ingredients they need for the day. 

 

Once classes were over, Harry headed to the library to get started on an assignment for History of Magic. A foot and a half essay. He’s already dreading having to write it. He finds a table by a window and looks around for a familiar Slytherin. When he doesn’t, he slumps down in his chair and opens his books.

When the words start to blend together, he takes a breather. He straights up, not relaxing that he had been slumped over the entire time. His back cracks when he does so and he places his hands on the small of his back to pop it even more. Then he feels hands on his shoulders and he immediately knows it’s his boyfriend. 

“Mmmm, that’s just what I need,” he groans, leaning into the touch. 

Louis chuckles and presses his thumbs into the stiff muscles of Harry’s upper back. “Hard at work, H?”

“Mm, essay for Bins’ class.” 

“When’s it due?”

“Wednesday.”

He feels Louis lean down and he opens his eyes to turn his head towards the boy. 

“So,” Louis starts, elongating the word. “You can take a break? Just for a few minutes?”

Harry grins and leans forward to kiss Louis’ nose. “Yeah, what do you have in mind?”

Louis smiles and cocks his head to left. “There’s a certain Gryffindor a few bookshelves over.”

Harry bites his lip and glances towards that direction. “Prank?”

“Prank.”

“What do you have in mind?” He asks, turning around as Louis plops down in the chair next to him. 

“Hmm,” Louis says, placing a finger to his cheek as if he was thinking. “What about that jinx I was showing you the other day?”

Harry smirks and pulls out his wand. He goes to stand up but pauses. “Wait, what if we get kicked out of the library?”

“We won’t,” Louis assures. “Madame Pince just left for a cuppa.”

Harry stares at Louis wondering how he knew that but forgot it in favor of getting up and creeping along the side of the bookcases. He feels Louis behind him and stops when he sees Liam, Leigh-Anne, and a few other Gryffindors sitting around one of the tables. Thankfully, Liam’s back was to them. 

“Remember the incantation?” Louis whispers and Harry nods.

He points his wand at Liam and with a swish he mutters under his breath, “ _Melofors_.”

Suddenly, a pumpkin appears over Liam’s head and Louis immediately bursts out into uncontrollable giggles and Harry is quick to join him.

“Bloody hell, what?” They hear Liam’s muffled voice call out which only cause them to laugh even harder. The other Gryffindors stare at their friend for a second before laughing too. Leigh-Anne looks behind Liam’s shoulder to see Harry and Louis practically on the floor with their giggles.

The pumpkin headed Liam doesn’t last as he performs a counter-jinx.

“Oh c’mon, Liam!” Louis says through his giggles. “Where’s your Halloween spirit?”

Liam turns around to glare at the two of them. “Halloween is in a week. And why do you always jinx me, Louis?”

Louis stands up straight and holds his hands up. “It t’was not I, Mr. Payne who jinxed you, but the devastatingly handsome, Mr. Harold Styles who did.” He explains in an overly posh accent.

Liam shifts his eyes to Harry who only smirks at him. “Great, now I have to look out for you too,” he turns back around but then stops. “Wait,” he says, making Harry and Louis pause in their escape. “Was it you who caused that giant spider to attack me?”

Harry grabs Louis’ hand and pulls him down the row giggling as Liam gets out of his seat to chase them. “Sorry, Liam! We’re the Dream Team!”

 

When Halloween does arrive to Hogwarts Castle, it does so in an outlandish fashion. All around the castle are fake bats and spiders hanging from the ceiling. The suits of armor creek more when they move. Peeves takes advantage of the spooky holiday to cause even more havoc around the castle with more water balloons and enchanting the fake bats to fly around student’s heads.

Halloween was, unfortunately, on a Thursday but all the students were filled with jitters that none of the classes were the least bit productive. Even McGonagall allowed several students to act up in class.

By the time dinner came around, Harry was excited to see what kinds of food the feast would hold. Louis sat with him, keeping a hand on his thigh. The Great Hall was decorated top to bottom with Halloween decorations. Jack o’ lanterns took place of the candles above their heads. The ghosts were more inclined to pop out of food trays to scare students.

Everyone in their group of friends join Harry, Perrie, and Jade at the Hufflepuff table. Most students mingled within other Houses for the holiday.

When it was dessert time, Harry and Louis couldn’t help but burst out laughing when there was a cake decorated like a pumpkin positioned right in front of Liam.

“What?” Niall asks when Leigh-Anne joins them. “I don’t get it.”

Liam glares at Harry and Louis. “Nothing, Niall. They’re just being idiots.”

“You mean brilliantly talented,” Louis corrects.

“No seriously, what?” 

“Nothing, Neil. Go back to your ice cream.”

Niall glares at Louis for not pronouncing his name correctly but does dig back into his dessert. “Anyway,” he says. “Can we talk about how Ravenclaw _destroyed_ Hufflepuff last weekend?”

“Yeah, I have double practice Friday because of it. Thomas wants to go over every single play we have.”

“Just the Chasers?” Louis asks, stealing a bite of Harry’s pie.

“Yeah, we have to stay the extra hour and a half. _Apparently_ , we weren’t playing our best Saturday?”

“Maybe Ravenclaw is just better,” Niall says and Perrie flips him off just as Niall’s bowl of ice cream is encased in a bubble.

Harry smirks when Niall tries to pop it with his spoon but fails. 

“Aw, c’mon, Haz!” Niall groans. “That was the perfect mix of chocolate ice cream, butterscotch ice cream, cotton candy ice cream, cherries and nuts! I won’t be able to do it again!”

Harry grimaces at the description as does his other friends. 

“Maybe that was for the best,” Jesy reasons, patting the Irishman on the back.

Louis leans into Harry’s side and squeezes his upper thigh. “You’re getting better, H.”

Harry preens and looks up through his lashes at the older boy. “Thanks, Lou.”

Louis stares at him for a few moments before abruptly standing up. “We’re going to go for a walk. See you lot later.”

Harry quickly joins him and he hears Leigh-Anne mutter, “Thank Merlin for that. They need to air out all that tension.”

Harry giggle as they make their way out of the Great Hall and up the staircase towards the Astronomy Tower. It’s chilly and windy when they get there but Louis conjures up a few blankets for them.

“I’d thought we’d continue dinner up here,” he explains shyly as he pulls out a box of fudge from Honeydukes.

“How’d you get that up here?” Harry asks as they sink down on the blankets.

“Shrinking charm to fit them in my pocket,” Louis says and opens the box pointing to the various squares of fudge. “There’s uh, cookies and cream, chocolate, and peanut butter. I didn’t know which one you’d like best so I got the top three they had.”

Harry preens and picks out one of the chocolate squares. “This is perfect, thank you, Lou.”

Louis smiles widely at Harry’s contentment. “Of course, love.”

Harry leans into Louis side, partially to share the warmth, and sighs and a rich chocolate flavor fills his mouth. 

“What are you going to do after you graduate? Be an Auror?” 

“Mmm,” Louis says, taking a bit of the cookie and cream fudge. “I’m sort of conflicted. I love playing Quidditch but I also want to help people.”

“Can you do both?”

Louis chuckles but shakes his head, a disappointed look on his face. “I don’t think I could do both at the same time.”

Harry sits up and faces Louis better. “No, I mean. Can you be a professional Quidditch player and then go to being an Auror?”

Louis thought for a moment. “I want to be professional Quidditch player. There are some scouts that come to the championship.”

“Is that why you fought for captain?”

“Yeah,” he nods and offers Harry a bite of his half eaten fudge. “Slytherin has to get in the championship so I can show the scouts my talent.”

Harry chews for moment before answering. “You like Puddlemere United, right?”

“Yeah, they’re brilliant,” Louis smiles at Harry remembering. “I would love to play for them. I don’t even care if I’m not a starter. I’d be happy to sit and watch.”

“You’re going to be a starter, they would have to put you in,” Harry says and reaches up to squeeze Louis’ bicep. “These suckers can give a powerful hit.”

Louis giggles. “Thanks, H. But that doesn’t really solve anything really.”

Harry swallows his bite and looks over at Louis. “Well, I guess you’ll have to pick which you could see yourself doing. Playing Quidditch or being an Auror.”

Louis takes a deep breath and looks out at the vast landscape in front of them. The trees seemed to go on for miles and the lake reflected the full moon. Harry could have sworn he heard a wolf howling. He looks back at Harry and leans in.

Time seems to slow down as Louis cups Harry’s cheek to bring their faces closer. Harry holds his breath as he feels Louis’ lips graze over his before pushing firmly. Harry releases his breath through his nose and eagerly moves his lips against Louis’. It’s soft and slow and Harry’s head is spinning with how _happy_ he is. 

Louis’ hand travels to the back of Harry’s neck to deepen the kiss and Harry leans into it. He tastes like cream when Harry opens his mouth to let Louis fully in. He moans and places his hand on Louis’ waist, his hand slipping under his shirt to feel the soft and warm skin.

Louis pulls back slowly when he hears a popping sound and something brush over his cheek. “Um, Harry?” He asks looking around them as gold and silver confetti falls around them.

Harry blushes and bites his lip. “Uh, sorry?”

Louis chuckles and pulls Harry back in.

Harry goes to bed that night with swollen lips and a full heart.

 

Friday passes by in a blur and Harry pouts when Louis tells him that he has to hold an emergency Quidditch practice. 

“Max’s replacement has dragonpox,” Louis explains. “I’ve got to find a quick stand-in before Saturday’s game against Gryffindor. I can’t let Liam and Leigh-Anne beat me! Plus, I’ve only got the field for an hour before Hufflepuff.”

Harry continues pouting until Louis kisses him firm and deep. “I’ll see you at dinner, alright?”

“Okay,” Harry says grumpily but he understands completely. At least he could have a productive study session now that he doesn’t have Louis distracting him. Or him distracting Louis. But, he finished all of his assignments early so he could spend more time with Louis before the Quidditch game the next day.

Instead, he joins Jack and Edgar in a game of Exploding Snap. Dusty decides to make an appearance and curls in Harry’s lap as he shuffles the cards. She purrs when he takes his free hand to scratch her under the chin.

The radio is playing in the background and Harry nods his head to the beat. The common room is warm and his fellow Hufflepuffs are lying around, some studying, some chatting with one another. 

Three rounds later, Harry sits back to take a break and watch the others play, more students joining in. He leans back in his chair and pulls Dusty to his upper chest. She stretches out and tucks her head over Harry’s shoulder.

“You’re more like a child than a cat,” he mutters to her as her tail curls in the air and waves slowly.

“Merlin’s beard,” Jade says as she and Perrie come stumbling in the common room moments later. “Change the radio to the news!”

“What’s going on?” One girl asks, startled at the panicked expressions on both Perrie and Jade’s faces.

“There’s been an attack on a magical family in London,” Perrie grimly tells them and everyone in the room stills including Harry who freezes in his seat. As if sensing Harry’s distress, Dusty bumps his cheek with her head and when he doesn’t react, she ducks down to rub against his chin and under his neck. He brings his arms around her and holds her close as if he could protect her from what’s happening.

Perrie goes over to the radio and changes the station. A deep male voice fills the room.  
" _About five hours ago, three members of the Bones family were found murdered in their home in the outskirts of London. A skull with a snake as it’s tongue, known as the Dark Mark, a symbol related to a dark wizard who calls himself Lord Voldemort, was seen floating above the home. Aurors were able to keep Muggles away from the scene while evidence was taken. The bodies were taken to St. Mungo’s for further examination. Although it is likely the three, whose identities shall not be revealed until later, died from the Killing Curse. Minister Jenkins urges everyone to be cautious and trust that the Ministry will stop these people_.”

No one said a word. No one even moved. The man continues saying such things as placing protective wards on your homes and taking someone with you wherever you go. It doesn’t matter. Not to Harry. He knew what something like this meant. This was the beginning of a war. Wasn’t this how the second Muggle war started? With the murder of an important member of society? The Bones family are a powerful and well respected wizarding family. Even a Muggle-born like himself knew the importance of the Bones’. Now three of them were murdered and who knew where the others were.

“We’ll be okay,” someone says quietly and everyone looked over to the source. It was a First Year girl. Harry can’t remember her name. “This is Hogwarts. We’re safe here.”

No one dares to mention that at some point, they will have to leave Hogwarts, either for Christmas vacation or for the summer. And then what? And what about their families? Harry looks up and makes eye contact with Perrie who immediately rushes over to where he’s sitting. She takes a seat on the armrest and buries a hand in his curls.

“They’ll be okay, Harry,” she says, already knowing that he is worried about his family but he knows that she’s talking about her own family too. 

 

Dinner that night is tense. Students enter in groups and stay clinging to one another when they sit down. The volume never reaches higher than a buzz since so many people are whispering or are silent—Harry included. He looks towards the Slytherin table and sees some laughing and acting like a family wasn’t murdered earlier that day. Then he sees Louis who’s walking towards him, still in his Quidditch gear.

Louis gives him a sympathetic smile and mouths “Are you okay?”

Harry shrugs in response. “You?”

Louis takes a seat next to him and immediately takes his hand. He opens his mouth to reply when Dumbledore stands up and clears his throat. Everyone looks towards the front of the Great Hall.

“As many of you know, a prestigious wizarding family was murdered tonight in their own home. They were killed by followers of a man who is using their deaths, as well as many others, as a fear tactic. I urge each and every one of you to not give in to that fear. As doing so will allow him to win. Keep your friends close and do your very best to learn as much as you can during this year. If you ever need anything, please seek it in our Prefects, Head Girl and Boy, and our professors. We are here to help you,” he looks out and his gaze falls on every single student in the room. His voice is calming and assuring and Harry feels marginally better. “With that said,” Dumbledore’s tone shifting to light-hearted. “I am looking forward to our meal tonight. I heard there’s lemon sherbet for dessert.” He waves his hand and dinner appears in front of them.

Harry digs in and eats without really tasting. He only wants to get back to his dormitory and write a letter to his family. Studying can wait tonight.

“Harry, slow down you’re going to choke,” Perrie says taking his right hand and forcing it away from his mouth, a forkful of potatoes in it. 

“Are you still thinking about the news?” Jade asks from across, her eyes watching him closely.

Harry sighs. “Of course I am. Who would do something like that? You know how important the Bones’ were to the wizarding community. And now all of them are gone?”

“Not all of them,” Jade corrects.

“Enough of them, though,” Perrie mumbles and Harry shoots her a look. “What? I know it’s horrible but we can’t get too hung up on it. Dumbledore is right. We need to do everything we can to learn as much this year as possible. We need to be ready.”

“She’s right, H,” Louis says softly, taking Harry’s attention. “We’ll be alright.”

Harry stares down at his shepherd’s pie, suddenly not feeling hungry anymore. “‘m going to go back to the common room.”

“Want us to come with?” Perrie asks as he stands up looking worriedly at him. 

He shakes his head. “No, I’ll be fine.”

Perrie squeezes his hand. “See you later.”

“See you.” He swings his leg over the bench and walks out of the Great Hall. Not sparing a glance at Louis as he goes. He doesn’t want Louis to see him like this. He’s walking to the common room when he gets the idea to go to the library. He needs to look up some defensive spells.

Madame Pince is there, as if she never left to begin with, and nods towards him when he enters.

He doesn’t say anything and walks towards the section where the Defense Against the Dark Arts books are held. He grabs books until his arms are full and heads to a table near a window. It’s raining outside which seems highly appropriate with the recent events. 

He starts reading and wishes he had stopped by the common room to pick up parchment and ink. He’ll have to remember as much as possible for now.

He’s about fifty pages deep in a book about tragedies regarding the improper use of defensive spells—one he should not have picked up because now he’s going to have nightmares—when the chair to his right pulls away and a body plops down beside of him. He jerks up and away from the person and tenses up. He relaxes when he realizes that it’s Louis.

“It’s just me, H. Are you usually this jumpy?” He asks, his blue eyes searching Harry’s for an answer.

Harry shrugs. “Just a bit recently.”

Louis peeks over at Harry’s pile of books. “Preparing to fight then?”

“I just want to be ready if anything happens to me or my family.”

“I know,” Louis says knowingly. “I get that.”

Louis takes a seat next to him and watches as Harry furiously flips through pages and pages of defensive spells. All of a sudden, he stops and turns to Louis.

“How are you not panicking right now?”

Louis takes a deep breath and releases it. “I’m not sure. It doesn’t seem real to me.”

“What do we do, Louis? If he can get to the Bones’ what’s to say that he won’t go for a Muggle family. Like mine? Or even your family? Or Niall’s? Or…” Harry asks his breath coming out quickly and he feels himself start to shake, his eyes welling up. “What do we do?”

Louis pushes the book back so he can straddle his boy. He cups Harry’s face in his hands and leans down so they’re at eye level. “It’s going to be okay, Harry. We’re all going to be okay. Don’t worry about them. Don’t worry about anyone but yourself. Calm down for me, love.”

Harry wraps his arms around Louis’ waist and buries his face in the older boy’s neck. Louis lets him and his pushes his hands in Harry’s hair. Harry can feel Louis dropping kisses on his head every now and then as he starts to cry. Moments later, Harry can hear the familiar clicking of Madame Pince’s shoes.

“Boys, is everything alright?” She asks, her tone concerned.

Louis must have done or said something to the librarian because he hears her walk away. He stays clinging to Louis who continues to run his fingers through his hair and whispers words into his ear. What seems like seconds later, Harry feels a hand on his shoulder.

“Mr. Styles?” A woman’s voice probes gently. “Can you lean back for a second?”

Harry doesn’t move and Louis leans down to whisper, “It’s Madame Pomfrey, H. I think you need to take some Draught of Peace. You’re having a panic attack, love. It’ll help.”

Harry clings tighter to the older boy for a minute or two before he slowly releases him. When he opens his eyes and looks up at Louis, the older boy is already wiping away the tears that Harry didn’t realize had fallen. 

“It’s okay, Harry.”

Harry looks to his right and Madame Pomfrey is standing a few feet away, patiently waiting.

“Mr. Tomlinson is right, Mr. Styles. We can walk you to the Hospital Wing if you decide to take it,” she tells him. 

Harry looks over at Louis then back to Madame Pomfrey. “Louis can come?”

She nods and smiles warmly at him. “Of course.”

Harry takes a deep breath before he nods and Louis gets up. He stands, his legs feeling shaky and Louis takes his hand in his. They follow Madame Pomfrey out of the library and Harry shyly looks over at where Madame Pince is at her desk. He needs to remember to thank her later.

When they enter the Hospital Wing, Madame Pomfrey leads them over an empty cot, some already have drops pulled across them and Harry wonders if other students are in the same predicament as he is. 

“Alright Mr. Styles. It’ll only take a few minutes before the potions effects take hold,” Madame Pomfrey informs him when Harry climbs in the cot.

Harry nods and takes the small vial filled with deep blue liquid. He takes it, the taste of lavender and honey. He relaxes his head against pillow and hands Louis the empty vial.

“I’ll give you two some privacy,” she says and pulls the curtains around the bed closed.

Louis goes to sit on the edge of the bed but Harry grasps his wrist. 

“Stay with me?” He asks already starting to feel drowsy and the shakiness start to fade away.

Louis nods. “Of course.” He slides his shoes off and they rearrange themselves to fit on the twin sized cot. Louis pulls the covers over both of them and wraps an arm around Harry’s waist. He kisses the back of Harry’s neck and Harry relaxes back into Louis’ arms, feeling himself start to drift off.

“Love you,” he mumbles and he swears he feels a smile being pressed against his head and a squeeze around his waist. 

 

The next morning, Harry wakes up and feels hot, smothered by the sheets around him. He goes to throw them off and freezes when he hears a groan behind him. He opens his eyes and takes in the light blue curtain surrounding his bed and the scratchiness of the sheets. Last night comes back to him and he doesn’t know what to think. 

On one hand, he’s grateful to Louis for staying with him and for Madame Pomfrey for giving him something to help him go to sleep. On the other hand, he can still feel that fear in the pit of his stomach, threatening to come back up. 

He hears Louis groan again and he turns around to face him. Louis looks peacefully as he sleeps. Harry wants to reach up and trace the curve of his cheek and the sharpness of his cheekbones. He would if he knew that Louis wouldn’t wake up. Instead, he watches and Louis scrunches his forehead and slowly opens his eyes. His eyes are light blue in this light and Harry wants to drown in them.

“Morning, H,” Louis mumbles, his voice gruff. “Are you feeling better?” He tightens the arm around Harry’s waist and slips a hand under Harry’s shirt to rub at the skin of his lower back.

Harry leans back into the touch and nods, unsure if he could talk at the moment.

“Good,” Louis says, his eyes slipping closed for a few seconds before opens them again. “Want to get a few more hours?”

Again, Harry says nothing but he nods and scoots close to tuck his face in Louis’ neck. Louis shifts so he’s laying on his back and rearranges Harry so his head his pillowed between Louis’ arm and shoulder. Harry rests his arm over Louis’ torso and Louis places his left hand on top of Harry’s. He turns his head to press a long kiss to Harry’s forehead and Harry releases a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“Sleep, H. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

Harry nods minutely and closes his eyes, focusing on Louis’ breathing and trying to sync his own with the older boy’s.

A few hours later, Harry wakes to a low voice in his ear. He slowly comes back to consciousness to feel Louis’ chest under his ear and the older boy talking to someone.

“I think we’re going to stay together for awhile. I don’t want to leave him today.” He hears Louis say lowly.

“I figured you might say that. I brought breakfast.”

“Thanks, Nialler.”

Harry feels Louis brush his fingers through his hair and he leans into the touch. Louis’ chest shakes slightly as he chuckles.

“You awake, H?”

Harry shakes his head which only prompts Louis to laugh more.

“C’mon sleepyhead. Niall so graciously brought us brekkie.”

Harry slowly opens his eyes and sees Niall sitting in the chair next to the bed placing food on the tray that Madame Pomfrey must have brought over.

Hey, Haz,” he greets and Harry gives him a small smile.

“You hungry?” Louis asks softly, brushing a kiss on the top of Harry’s head.

Harry nods and sits up, Louis doing the same and keeping his arm wrapped around him.

“Thanks, Niall,” Harry says and pulls the tray closer to the two of them. He goes for the apple while Louis takes the plate of scramble eggs.

“Not a problem. You feeling any better? Perrie told me what happened.”

“Perrie knows?” Harry asks, his mouth full.

“Yeah, she was here with a First Year and saw the two of you come in.” Niall explains.

“Oh,” he says and tries to remember if he saw Perrie when he and Louis came in last night. But he doesn’t. 

“Madame Pomfrey said that as long as you’re alright, you can go back to your common room tonight,” Louis tells him and when he feels Harry tense up beside him and wraps a hand around Harry’s wrist. “I can stay with you, if you need me to. I don’t mind.”

“I-” Harry starts and looks at Louis, the older boy giving him a soft smile. “Just for another night. If that’s okay with you?”

Louis nods and kisses him on the cheek. “Of course, Harry.”

 

The rest of the day, Louis stays by Harry side, always keeping a hand on him and presses kisses on his temple or cheek. They go to the Hufflepuff common room when Madame Pomfrey clears Harry and the two settle in an armchair. The mood of the common room is tense still. The radio stays off.

Louis plays with Harry’s curls as Harry writes his essay for transfiguration. He only have a few inches left to write when Louis shifts behind him.

“What are you doing for Christmas break?” Louis asks.

Harry looks back at him. “Um, I’m going to my Mum and Step-Dad’s house. My Dad is away for business so I’ll be staying with my Mum and Robin the whole time. Why do you ask?”

Louis shifts in his place. “Do you want to come visit me during the break? You can bring your family too.”

“Your family wouldn’t mind?” 

Louis shakes his head. “Definitely not. Me Mum has always told me ‘the more the merrier’. I wrote her a letter asking if I could the other week. She say I could.”

Harry thinks for a moment and puts his quill in the pot of ink by his side. “Yeah, I’d like that.”

Louis grins and pulls Harry in for a soft kiss. He pulls away slowly but keeps their faces close together. “Brilliant.” And Harry smiles for the first time in a day.

 

November passes by in a haze of LouisLouisLouis. Ever since Harry’s panic attack, Louis has made sure to keep the younger boy’s thoughts were occupied. Whether it was practicing jinx’s on Liam or pulling him into the Room of Requirement and empty classrooms for quick snogs. At night when Louis says goodbye to go back to his own dormitory, he always pulls Harry close and tells him that everything will be alright. 

After awhile, Harry starts to believe him and trusts that Louis is right. He buries himself in last minute assignments and then he starts packing for break. Dusty is getting restless as if she senses that she’s going to be going in her crate soon.

On the day Harry has to leave for the train station, he has to persuade his pet with extra treats to get her to go in the crate. 

“I know, I know,” he says as he pulls the latch close. “I promise to let you out when I get to the compartment. You know this.”

Dusty hisses at him otherwise.

He carries his bags out of the common room, saying bye and Happy Christmas to those he passes. He finds Niall in the line to go out and he places his bags next to the Irishman.

“Ready to go home for a bit?”

Niall smiles widely at him. “Hell yes. I’ve been craving me Mam’s cooking like crazy recently.”

Harry smiles and lugs his bags to the pile of other student’s who are leaving for the break. He keeps Dusty with him though. He looks around to try to spot Louis and his smile widens when he sees Louis struggling to carry his bags. He leaves Dusty’s carrier with Niall in favor of going over to Louis to help.

“Thanks, love,” Louis says and kisses him once he’s able to put his bags down. They join Niall right when a carriage opens up and the three climb in. 

It’s a cold morning as the carriage takes them to Hogsmeade Station where the Hogwarts Express is waiting to take them to King’s Cross in London. They manage to find an empty compartment when they reach the train and they claim it just for them. Harry lets Dusty out who immediately goes to Louis.

“Hey!” Niall whines. “How come your cat loves Louis more than me?”

“She obviously has good taste,” Louis scoffs jokingly. 

“She’s just trying to make you jealous, Nialler,” Harry says and leans his back against the window. 

“Well, it’s working.”

Louis chuckles and scratches Dusty on top of her head. “It’s a long train ride, I’m sure she’ll come to you for cuddles too.”

Three hours into the journey, she does just that but only because Harry throws his legs on top of Louis’ disrupting Dusty’s resting spot.

“Are-are _you_ jealous of your own cat, H?” Louis asks amused as Harry shuffles close so Louis can bury his hand in Harry’s curls.

“No,” Harry says softly and unconvincingly. 

Louis chuckles but obliges Harry’s silent request. He falls asleep like that, his head resting on Louis’ shoulder and Louis’ hand in his hair, slowly going through his curls. 

He’s woken up by a soft voice in his ear.

“Wake up, love. We’re almost in London,” Louis whispers and presses a kiss to Harry’s forehead.

Harry moans and opens his eyes. He sees Niall stretched out across the seat opposite of them, Dusty curled on his chest. He coos at the sight.

He looks out the window and sees that the sun’s already setting, splashing pinks and oranges in the sky.

He stretches his back and releases a big yawn. Louis does the same and soon he sees Kings Cross come into view.

“Niall,” he says quietly, going over to the Irishman to shake his shoulder. “We’re here.”

Niall grumbles and rolls over to his side. Dusty falls off his chest and Harry picks her up.

“Sorry,” he tells her. “Got to put you back in your carrier.” She’s too sleepy to hiss at him this time.

Niall sits up and rubs his eyes. “Here already?”

“Yeah, Niall,” Louis says, pulling his jacket on. “You’re going to the Leaky Cauldron, right?”

Niall nods and stands up to stretch. “Yeah, thought I’d stop for a pint before taking the Floo back home.”

Louis nods. “I’ll probably join you.” He turns to Harry and pulls him close.

“Be safe when you go meet your parents,” he says leaning in to kiss him.

“I will,” Harry promises. “Me Mum’s meeting me outside of the gate.”

“Oh, yeah, she can’t cross the barrier cause she’s a Muggle,” Niall says the realization out loud.

Harry chuckles and nods. “You say that every year.”

“’s tradition.”

They grab their things and head out of the compartment once the train has pulled into the station. Various family members are waiting on out the platform, anxious looks on their faces.

“Write me when you get home,” Louis tells Harry and he nods.

“I’ll see you before Christmas,” he says and they step off the train and to the back to gather their bags.

“I look forward to it,” Louis says and kisses him once more.

 

When Harry walks through the barrier and sees his mum waiting on the other side, he starts tearing up. He rushes over to her and practically falls in her embrace. 

“Oh, we’re alright, baby,” Anne Twist says, cupping her hand behind his head. “Don’t worry about us.”

Harry pulls back slightly and gives her a watery grin. “Of course I worry. How have you and Robin been?”

Harry’s mum wraps her arm around his waist as they start walking out of the train station. “We’re fine, baby. Things have been relatively quiet around the neighborhood.”

“Nothing suspicious has happened? Nothing like I wrote you?”

“No, nothing like that. The only strange thing to happen is Mrs. Jenkin’s having to call the fire department to get her cat down from the big tree in her backyard.

Harry sighs but accepts his mum’s answer. “Okay, sorry, it’s just. There’s been a lot going on since Halloween.”

“And what about that boy you wrote about, hmm?” Anne teases and chuckles when Harry groans and blushes.

“He’s… he’s amazing. One of my best friends.”

“Sounds a bit more than friendship, darling.”

Harry looks down at his feet as they walk and mumbles out, “Yeah, a bit more.”

His mum smiles and pulls him in to kiss the top of his head. “As long as he treats you right, then I’m happy for you.”

“You’re still alright with us going to dinner with his family while I’m home?”

“Or course! You say he’s,” she stops herself as if she’s just remembered what type of people were around her. “That his family is in the upper class?”

Harry grins at her description. “Yeah, but he doesn’t mind that we’re middle class.”

Anne smiles as they reach her car. “Well, then I’m really looking forward to meeting them.”

It was about five days before Louis’ 19th birthday, six days until Christmas, when they agreed for Harry’s family to come over for dinner. Although it wasn’t dangerous for Muggles to travel via the Floo Network, Harry didn’t want to risk taking his mum, step-dad, and sister into the wizarding community for fear that something might happen to them. Instead, his family took the almost 2 hour journey from Cheshire to Doncaster.

His family were practically bouncing in their seats as Robin turns down a gravel driveway with trees arching overhead. Harry grins at their excitement at meeting a wizarding family and because he was going to see Louis separate from school.

The car suddenly cuts off when it reaches a iron gate that must encircle the entire property.

“Um, Harry? You didn’t say anything about this,” Gemma says.

“Oh,” Harry suddenly remembers. “Louis told me they’ve been taking more advanced measures since the, uh, since the attacks.”

He leans forward in his seat when he sees a figure approaching on a broom, not able to make out who it was due to the sun already falling behind the trees but having a good idea who.

He steps out of the car right as the figure lands. 

“Harry?” He hears Louis call out and he grins as he walks up to the gate.

“Yeah, it’s me, Lou,” he says.

Louis uses his wand for light and Harry sees his face brighten when he realizes who it is. “Sorry about that. Mum and Dan have been worried recently.”

Harry shakes his head. “It’s no problem. Are you nervous to meet my family?”

Louis smirks confidently. “Not at all.” He waves his wand and the gate swings open. “I’ll see you up at the house.” He gets back on his broom and flies off.

“So, that was Louis?” Gemma asks when Harry gets back in the car. “He’s cute.”

Harry blushes but smiles and nods his head as Robin restarts the car and drives through, the gate closing behind them. 

The Tomlinson-Deakin house is much, much larger than what Harry imagined and reminded him of a smaller Hogwarts with stone work edging the home and only three stories. Flowers and bushes dot the base of the house. Harry can spot a Quidditch hoop behind the house along with a play set. 

Louis is at the open door when the Styles-Twist family approaches and he steps forward. “It’s very nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Twist. You too, Gemma.” He offers his hand to Robin and shakes it firmly.

Robin chuckles and looks back at Harry who’s standing behind them and grinning. “I like him, Harry.”

“Please, come in, mum is having to hold back my sisters. They’re kinda excited to meet you all,” Louis explains and rubbing the back of his hand.

Harry waits for his family to walk in the house before he steps toward Louis who copies his movements until they're only a foot apart. 

Louis chuckles when Harry wraps his arms around his shoulders and pulls him in. “Missed you too, H,” Louis murmurs and buries his face in Harry’s curls, taking in his familiar scent of apples.

Harry pulls away to look behind Louis, checking if anyone was watching their interaction. When he doesn’t, he leans forward to capture Louis’ lips. Louis hums and pulls Harry closer to his body by his waist. It doesn’t last long enough for Harry but he knows that they need to go inside. 

“Are you nervous about meeting my family?” Louis teases when he notices Harry’s hesitation.

“What? No, of course not,” Harry says and Louis raises his eyebrows, pursing his lips as if to hold back a smirk. “I’m serious! I’m looking forward to your mum pulling out your baby pictures.”

Louis’ face drops and his eyes widen. “What?”

It’s Harry’s turn to smirk and he steps into the house. “Yeah, I wrote her a letter asking if I could see them.”

“You’re bluffing.”

“Want to find out?” Harry says and giggles when Louis chases him into the house.

 

Jay Deakin doesn’t actually show Harry Louis’ baby photos, mainly because she and Anne were too busy sipping wine and getting to know one another.

Harry absolutely fell in love with the way Louis was around his younger siblings. Ernie, not yet two years, gravitated towards his brother and demanded to stay in Louis’ lap during dinner. Although, Louis gave that as an excuse when Jay wanted to put Ernest in his highchair. 

The dinner was over and Louis’ sisters and step-dad were highly invested in the board game Gemma had brought. Robin and Gemma were at the coffee table in front of a fireplace trying to teach the others how to play.

“Wait,” Daisy says, “The pieces don’t move on their own?”

Harry chuckles from his spot on the loveseat as he watches his sister explain again how this was a Muggle game. Doris and Ernie were already put to bed and Harry and Louis were curled together on the loveseat.

Harry looked around the room and sighed at how genuinely _happy_ he was. He was completely content. He and Louis were stretched out on the loveseat, Harry’s head on Louis’ chest and his left hand captured by Louis’. 

He shifts for a moment, settling more against Louis’ body and the older boy presses a kiss to Harry’s temple. Harry looks up to see Louis smiling down at him.

“What are you thinking?” Louis whispers and Harry tilts his head up for a brief kiss before settling back down. 

“Just remembering that everything will be alright.” He knows that as long as he has someone like Louis to pull him out of his head and show him that while there is darkness in the world there is also light. He can focus on the light and make it through whatever comes his way.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave kudos, a comment, and reblog the [tumblr](http://daggerandrose.tumblr.com/post/162890675240/we-will-find-our-way-by-amomentoflove-23k-yeah) post! They all make my day!


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